•  LO 
CO 

o 


a 


Granite  Interest,  and  the  Advantages  of  Cape  Ann 
as  a  Place  of  Summer  Resort, 


GLOUCESTER: 

PROCTER    BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS,  ADVERTISER  OFFICE. 

1876. 


THE 


^i^erie^  of  G^loude^tef 


FROM    THE 


FIRST  CATCH  BY  THE  ENGLISH 

IN  1623, 

¥o  %  denter^ikl  Yekf,  l8f  6. 


GIVING  AN  ACCOUNT  OP 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  TOWN ;  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
FISHING  BUSINESS  ;  VARIOUS  BRANCHES  j  STATIS- 
TICS OF  CATCH;  MODELS  OF  VESSELS; 


The  Granite  Interest ;    The  Advantages  of  Cape  Ann  as  a 
Place  of  Summer  Resort,  Etc.,  Etc. 


GLOUCESTER : 

PEOCTER    BROTHERS,    IPublishers,. 
Cape  Ann  Advertiser  Office. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/fisheriesofgloucOOglourich 


Fs- 


PREFACE. 


In  this 'centennial  year  of  the  nation, 
when  all  the  world  is  to  be  represented 
at  Philadelphia,  our  young  city  by  the 
sea,  through  some  of  her  leading  citi- 
zens, felt  a  strong  desire  to  add  her  trib- 
ute to  the  exhibition,  and  let  the  people 
know  what  she  had  been  doing  for  a  hundred  years  or  more. 

The  Centennial  fever  was  raging  everj-where,  and  the  symptoms 
were  soon  manifest  in  our  community.  Meetings  were  held,  and  it 
was  determined  that  the  fishing  business,  which  Gloucester  had  pur- 
sued so  long  and  clung  to  so  tenaciously,  through  good  seasons  and 
poor,  through  sacrifices  of  life  and  property  which  are  indeed  appall- 
ing, should  be  represented.  To  this  end  a  committee  was  appointed, 
and  owing  to  their  untiring  zeal  and  labors  there  maybe  seen  in  the 
Gloucester  department  of  the  Agricultural  Building  at  Philadelphia, 
a  tank  23  x  12  feet,  filled  with  water,  in  which  correct  models  of  the 
fishing  fleet,  of  the  olden  time  and  of  modern  times,  are  afloat,  illus- 
trative of  the  various  branches  of  the  fisheries.  A  miniature  wharf, 
of  the  present  day,  perfect  in  all  its  details,  and  a  cob  wharf  of  the 
olden  time,  a  graving  dock  and  marine  railway-,  make  into  the  tank, 
wiiile  crews  of  miniature  model  fishermen,  clad  in  the  garments  pe- 
culiar to  their  avocation,  impart  animation  to  the  scene,  the  whole 
giving  a  vivid  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  the  fisheries  of  Glouces- 
ter are  pursued.  About  the  tank  may  be  seen  specimens  of  the 
products  of  the  fisheries,  of  fishing  gear,  cordage  and  various  patent- 
ed articles  of  merit  used  in  the  business,  together  with  specimens  of 
minerals,  mosses,  shells,  coral,  sea-corn,  and  other  curious  produc- 
tions of  old  Neptune's  garden  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  brought  in 
by  the  fishermen  or  gathered  along  our  beaches. 

In  connection  with  this  exhibition,  this  pamphlet  has  been  prepar- 
ed, giving  a  history  of  Gloucester  and  of  her  advancement  in  that 


iT7iQe;*>ftS>A 


branch  of  industry  in  which  she  has  attained  such  a  prominent  posi- 
tion, that,  in  this  Centennial  year,  she  can  safely  challenge  any  port 
in  the  world  to  a  comparison  with  her  catch  of  fish,  her  clipper  ves- 
sels, and  the  enterprise  and  daring  with  which  the  business  is  prose- 
cuted. She  stands  to-day  at  the  head  of  the  fisheries,  as  headquart- 
ers for  the  purchasing  of  fish,  from  first  hands,  a  fact  which  a  walk 
about  her  wharves  demonstrates  to  a  certainty.  The  telegraph  brings 
orders  daily  from  all  portions  of  the  country,  and  the  facilities  for 
transportation  are  such  as  to  warrant  purchasers  to  send  their  orders 
direct  to  Gloucester.  If  another  half-century  witnesses  such  rapid 
growth  and  progress  in  this  branch,  as  the  past  has  developed,  we 
ma}-  expect  to  sec  the  shores  of  her  outer  harbor  lined  with  wharves, 
the  much  talked  of  breakwater  on  Dog  Bar  completed,  the  marginal 
railroad  in  active  operation,  horse  railroads  around  the  Cape  and 
throughout  the  city,  her  population  doubled,  and  vacant  lots  on  hill- 
side and  valley,  covered  with  neat  dwelling  houses. 


GLOUCESTER  AND  HER  FISHERIES. 


VIEW  OF  GLOUCESTER  IN  1830. 


CHAPTER    1. 


Geological  —  Islands  —  First  Occupation  of  Territory  —  Early 
Settlement — Growth  of  Town  —  Division  of  Lands  —  Ship 
Building  —  Military  Services,  etc. 

$  iSfilHE  northern  promontory  of  Massachusetts  Ba}',  known  as 
Q(§)i2 If  Cape  Ann,  on  which  the  City  of  Gloucester  is  situated,  is  a 

"^«$§$T  headland  of  about  five  miles  in  average  breadth  and  extend- 
ing about  nine  miles  from  the  main  land  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 
Its  geological  features  are  remarkable,  and,  at  first  sight,  strike  ev- 
ery beholder  with  astonishment.  The  under-lying  formation  seems 
to  be  everywhere  of  solid  granite,  which  rises  to  the  surface  over  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  territory,  and  in  several  places  is  thrown 
up  man}'  feet  above,  forming  rock}'  hills  and  extensive  and  precipi- 
tous ledges.  Scattered  thickly,  too,  all  over  the  territory  are  bould- 
ers of  every  size,  having,  in  many  instances,  such  regularity  of  shape 
and  vast  magnitude  as  to  entitle  them  to  no  mean  rank  as  natural 
curiosities.  In  a  few  places  these  boulders  are  heaped  together  in 
immense  masses,  extending  over  large  tracts  of  the  surface,  where 
the  eye  seeks  in  vain  for  signs  of  vegetation  or  even  for  soil  to  sup- 
port it.  These  peculiar  features  of  Cape  Ann  give  a  somewhat  rug- 
ged and  sterile  aspect  to  the  sceneiw,  but  this  is  amply  compensated 


6 

by  the  unrivalled  attractions  of  beauty  and  sublimity  which  the 
ocean  here  presents. 

Off  the  head  of  the  Cape,  and  quite  near  the  shore,  lie  three 
islands  worthy  of  mention  on  account  of  some  historical  note  ;  for 
they  are  the  same  islands,  fronting  "the  fair  headland  Tragabig- 
zanda,"  named  the  Three  Turks'  Heads  by  Capt.  John  Smith,  in 
1614.  The3^  are  now  known  by  other  names,  one  of  which,  Thach- 
er,  perpetuates  the  memory  of  the  first  and  most  distressing  ship- 
wreck that  ever  happened  on  the  Cape,  by  which,  in  August,  1635, 
about  twenty  persons,  men,  women  and  children,  lost  their  lives  at 
that  island,  upon  which  Mr.  Anthony  Thacher  and  his  wife  were 
thrown  alive  by  the  sea,  and  were  the  only  survivors. 

The  first  occupation  of  Cape  Ann  by  people  of  the  English  race 
was  in  1623,  when  a  fishing  vessel,  sent  by  a  company  in  England 
with  a  view  to  the  establishment  of  a  settlement  somewhere  on  the 
coast,  not  being  able  to  complete  her  lading  at  the  usual  fishing 
grounds  on  the  coast  of  Maine,  "  the  master  thought  good  to  pass 
into  Mattachusetts  Bay,  to  try  whether  that  would  yield  him  any." 
Here  he  succeeded  ;  and,  having  completed  his  cargo,  proceeded 
with  the  same  to  Spain ;  having  left  fourteen  men  "  in  the  country 
at  Cape  Anne,"  for  the  purpose,  without  doubt,  of  beginning  the 
work  of  the  plantation  projected  by  the  English  company.  History 
refuses  to  gratify  us  with  any  further  information  concerning  these 
men,  but  we  know  that,  besides  the  pilgrims  at  Ptymouth,  the  only 
other  persons  of  European  parentage  they  could  then  find  within  the 
present  limits  of  Massachusetts  were  a  few  persons  at  Nantasket 
and  a  few  others  at  Weymouth. 

Early  in  the  next  year  (1624)  the  same  ship,  commanded  by  the 
same  master,  and  accompanied  by  another  vessel  of  one  hundred  and 
forty  tons,  came  again  to  Cape  Ann,  and,  after  an  unsuccessful  sea- 
son's fishing,  returned  to  England,  leaving  now  thirtj'-two  men  to 
remain  at  the  plantation.  Not  discouraged  by  the  ill  success  of  this 
3*ear  the  adventurers  in  England  continued  their  efforts  to  establish 
a  permanent  colony  on  the  shores  of  Cape  Ann,  and  sent,  in  the 
next  3*ear,  three  vessels,  one  of  which,  of  about  forty  tons,  brought 
out  "  kine  and  other  provisions."  They  also  appointed  a  competent 
man,  Roger  Conant,  to  be  its  governor ;  but  from  various  causes 
their  enterprise  came  to  an  end  this  3*ear  and  the  plantation  was 
broken  up.  Mr.  Conant,  with  some  of  his  companions,  removed  a 
few  miles  further  west  to  Naumkeag,  now  Salem,  where,  soon  after, 
"  a  new  colony  upon  the  old  foundation,"  was  established,  which,  in 


DAVIS  &  FEAES, 

MANUFACTURERS   OF  STANDARD 

Black  and  Yellow 


Lincoln  and  Cape  Ann  Son'  Westers, 
FANCY   AND   CAPE   ANN    LONG   COATS, 


OUR  STANDARD  BLACK  OIL  CLOTHING 

is  the  only  genuine  in  the  market,  as  we  are  the  only  parties  having  the  patent  process  of 
mixing  and  applying  the  Black  Preparation. 

Also  our  IflSIiliOW  is  not  excelled  by  any  manufacturer  in  the  country,  being 
made  from  the  best  Cotton  Cloth  in  the  .market,  and  using  pure  boiled  Linseed  Oil 
which  is  prepared  expressly  for  us,  Ave  can  warrant  them  perfect  in  every  respect. 

SEND  FOR  PRICE  LIST.       SAMPLES  SENT  IF  REQUIRED. 
Office  and  Manufactory, 

GLOUCESTER,    (CAPE   ANN,)    MAM, 


a  short  time,  became  the  great  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Du- 
ring these  last  two  years  the  Plymouth  people  seem  also  to  have 
carried  on  the  fishmg  business  at  Cape  Ann,  having  had,  in  1625, 
two  vessels  engaged  in  it,  but  their  efforts  in  this  direction  were  also 
abandoned  at  the  end  of  the  last  named  year. 

A  spot  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  principal  harbor  of  the  Cape, 
the  largest  tract  of  land  on  its  borders  fit  for  planting,  has  always 
been  pointed  at  by  tradition  as  the  spot  occupied  by  these  first  Eng- 
lish occupants,  and  early  records  designate  the  place  as  "  ffisher- 
man's  field."  Here  they  dried  their  fish  and  gave  some  attention  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  receiving  an  occasional  visit  from  the  na- 
tives probably  for  purposes  of  trade  ;  and  we  can  scarcely  doubt 
that  they  sometimes  ascended  the  high  ledge  of  rock  on  the  shore, 
so  marked  a  feature  on  the  spot,  to  look  down  upon  the  settlement 
and  the  queers-shaped  and  singularly-rigged  vessels  lying  at  anchor 
off  their  "stage"  or  wharf;  and  to  enjoy  a  view  of  the  beautiful 
sheet  of  water  before  them,  embosomed  as  it  then  was  in  a  girdle  of 
the  original  forest. 

How  soon  after  the  departure  of  Conant  and  his  company  Cape 
Ann  became  the  residence  of  new  settlers,  it  is  impossible  to  tell. 
From  a  sermon  of  the  last  century  it  seems  to  have  had  inhabitants 
in  1G33,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  fishing  was  u  set  forward, 
and  some  stages  builded"  as  early  as  1639.  In  1642  the  settlement 
had  grown  to  such  consequence  by  the  arrival  of  Rev.  Richard  Blyn- 
man  with  several  others  from  PI3  mouth  Colony,  and  a  few  families 
from  Salem,  that,  in  May  of  that  3Tear,  it  was  established  to  be  a 
plantation  and  called  Gloucester.  The  whole  number  of  settlers  to 
the  close  of  1650  was  eight}'-two,  about  one-third  of  whom  remained 
in  town  and  found  here  their  final  resting-place.  Of  a  few  of  these, 
Babson,  Bray,  Da}^,  Elwell,  Haskell,  Ingersol,  Robinson,  Sargent, 
and  Somes,  descendants  continue  at  the  present  time. 

Strange  as  it  ma}*-  seem,  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  first 
settlers  of  Gloucester  were  fishermen.  A  very  few  ma}r  have  been 
engaged  in  that  occupation,  in  a  small  wa}' ;  but  it  is  certain  that 
almost  all  of  them  were  employed  on  the  land  and  not  on  the  sea. 
Several  of  them  were  ship-carpenters,  and  one  of  these,  William 
Stevens,  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  settlers.  He  enjo3red 
some  fame  in  his  occupation  before  he  came  to  New  England,  as  the 
builder  of  the  "  Royal  Merchant,"  a  great  ship  of  600  tons,  at  Lon- 
don ;  and  we  know  that  he  built  a  ship  in  Gloucester  in  1661  ;  and 
perhaps  he  built  many  others  in  the  intervening  years.     Though  it 


CARTEK  S 


i 


\>V,  Vy+/\ 


BLACK  AND  YELLOW. 

TRAD£     HARK. 

Having*    Ii.nl    a    large    and    «lirect    practical    experience   with  the 
wants  of  the 

FISHERMEN  AND  SEAMEN, 

and  having-  devoted  my  whole  time  exclusively  for  years  to  the  man- 
ufacture and  improvement  of 


* 

I  claim   a   superiority   for   my  goods   over  all    other   manufacturers, 
and  offer  them  to  the  trade  as  the 

BEST  IN  THE  MARKET! 

For  the  protection  of  the  trade,  all  my  goods  are  sold  di- 
rect from  the  Manufactory,  and  all  orders  should  be  ad- 
dressed to 

J.  F.  CARTER, 

Stanufa  etudes   and   Sole   Pcopi£eieF» 

GLOUCESTEK,  (CAPE  ANN,)  MASS. 


10 

seems  hardly  possible  that  the  town  could  have  been  less  inviting" 
for  agricultural  purposes,  it  is  true  that  many  of  the  first  and  later 
settlers  took  up  such  scattered  tracks  of  clear  land  as  they  could 
find  and  derived  their  means  of  subsistence  chiefly  from  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil. 

The  Church  organized  by  the  first  settlers  was  the  nineteenth,  in 
the  order  of  formation,  in  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts.  It  was  not 
a  happy  body  of  Christians  for  a  number  of  years.  Dissensions  pre- 
vailed during  Mr.  Blynman's  ministry,  and  probably  hastened,  if 
they  did  not  induce,  his  departure  from  the  town.  He  removed  to 
New  London  in  1650,  and  was  soon  followed  by  many  of  the  friends 
who  had  accompanied  him  to  Cape  Ann.  The  next  settled  minister 
was  Rev.  John  Emerson,  who  came  in  1660,  and  continued  till  his 
ministry  was  closed  by  death  in  1700.  A  second  church  was  set  off 
from  the  first  in  1716,  a  third  in  1728,  a  fourth  in  1742,  and  a  fifth 
in  1754,  and  corresponding  divisions  of  the  territory  into  parishes 
were  also  made.  These  parochial  divisions  have  now  no  significance 
whatever,  and  the  religious  societies  of  the  city  at  the  present  time 
are  entirely  independent  of  them. 

The  town  had  slow  growth  during  the  first  half  century  of  its  ex- 
istence. The  whole  number  of  men  who  became  new  settlers  from 
1651  to  1700  inclusive,  was  only  eighty-seven,  of  whom  about  fifty 
became  permanent  settlers,  and  were  residents  of  the  town  when 
they  died.  The  names  of  some  of  them  are  numerously  represented 
b}'  descendants,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  Davis,  Hodgkins,  Lane, 
Lufkin,  Norwood,  Parsons,  Pool  and  Rowe  will  cease  to  be  the 
names  of  living  persons  on  Cape  Ann  for  many  generations  to  come. 

In  1700  there  were  about  700  inhabitants  in  the  town.  Nearly  all 
of  the  tax-payers  were  commoners,  that  is,  owners  of  all  the  territo- 
tory  of  the  town  not  3*et  granted  awaj\  Except  in  one  instance,  to 
William  Stevens,  of  five  hundred  acres  on  the  Chebacco  side  of  An- 
nisquam  River,  no  very  large  grant  had  been  made.  Only  one  gen- 
eral grant  in  contiguous  lots,  that  of  1688,  had  been  made  to  all  the 
commoners  ;  but  the  possession  of  the  soil  was  constantl}'  becoming 
a  greater  object  of  desire  on  account  of  the  fine  growth  of  timber 
with  which  it  was  covered,  and  it  was  this,  without  doubt,  which 
led,  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  to  the  transfer  of 
all  the  common  land  into  the  hands  of  the  individual  proprietors. 
The  town  hitherto  had  been  of  no  importance  as  a  maritime  place  ; 
and,  at  the  close  of  its  first  half  century,  all  the  property  it  held  in 
vessels  was  comprised  in  six  sloops,  a  boat,  and  a  shallop.     But  a 


11 


RICHARDSON'S  PATENT  ICE  CRUSHER. 


Awarded  Silver  Medal  by  Ameri- 
can Institute,  N.  Y., 

With  important  and  valua- 
ble improvements, 

is  now  used  by  all  of  the  Fresh 
Fish  Packers  of  Gloucester,  Mass., 
also  by  others  on  the  Atlantic 
Coast  and  the  Great  Lakes  who  all 
recommend  it  as  an  economical 
machine,  saving  ice,  labor,  time, 
fish  and  freight,  for,  with  less  la- 
bor, the  ice  is  crushed  so  uniformly 
in  size  that  more  fish,  with  less  ice 
can  be  packed  in  the  same  space, 
and  kept  longer  and  better  than 
with  ice  crushed  by  any  other 
method. 

Look  at  one,  in  Agricultural 
Building,  Columns  A  and  B;  20 
and  21  in  Gloucester's  exhibition  of 
the  progress  in  the  fisheries;  in 
Machinery  Building,  Sec.  B  3,  Col- 
umn 19;  or  in  Tufts'  Soda  Foun- 
tain Establishments  on  the  Cen- 
tennial Grounds. 

Send  for  Circular  to 

DAVID  W.  LOW, 

-Argent, 

GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 


EICHAEDSON'S 

—  AND  — 

THE  CENTENNIAL  STEERERS 


CONTAINING  MANY  VALUABLE  IMPROVEMENTS  AND  WELL  WOR- 
THY THE  ATTENTION  OF  VESSEL  OWNERS. 


Four  hundred  of  them  are  now 
in  use  on  Fishing  Vessels  and 
Yachts  and  have  given  perfect  sat- 
isfaction. <  Ii«'iJi>«-»t  iintl  H«'fc» 
HlH'i'N  in  ihe  market. 

In  vessels  using  these  Steerers, 
the  wheel  can  be  left  in  any  position 
ivithout  securing  it  by  becket  or  other- 
wise. When  blowing  hard  or  in  a 
heavy  sea,  the  man  at  the  wheel  is 
in  no  danger  of  being  injured  or 
"  thrown,"  as  the  action  of  the  sea 
has  no  effect  xohatever  upon  the  wheel. 
Nautical  men  will  see  the  advanta- 
ges of  this  in  the  coasting  trade  or 
in  vessels  short-handed. 

It  only  requires  five  and  a  half  rev- 
olutions of  the  wheel  from  hard  up 
to  hard  down. 

For  full  pai'ticulars  and  references 
send  for  pamphlet  and  price  list  to 


FRED.  L.  STACY,  Agent, 

GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 


12 

season  of  great  activity  in  ship-building  now  commenced.  Ships 
and  brigantines  were  built  for  Boston  merchants,  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  sloops  by  people  of  the  town  for  their  own  use.  Many  of  the 
latter  were  used  for  the  conveyance  of  wharf  timber  and  other  wood 
to  Boston,  and  some  were  emploj'ed  in  the  distant  eastern  fisheries  ; 
but  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  Gloucester  had,  before  1700,  a 
single  vessel  engaged  in  fishing  as  far  east  as  Cape  Sable.  About 
this  time,  however,  a  vigorous  pursuit  of  this  business  began,  and 
with  varying  fortune  it  has  been  carried  on  to  the  present  time. 
Out  of  the  fisheries  of  the  town  grew  a  commerce  with  foreign  coun- 
tries— chiefly  Spain,  Portugal,  and  the  West  Indies  at  first,  but 
finally  with  many  other  parts  of  the  globe.  This  has  ceased  in  late 
years,  and  it  may  be  said  that  now  Gloucester  sends  no  merchan- 
dise across  the  seas,  and  with  the  exception  of  cargoes  of  salt  for 
use  in  her  fisheries,  receives  none.  It  does  however  cany  on  some 
trade  with  the  British  maritime  provinces  of  North  America. 

This  town  has  worthily  borne  its  share  of  all  public  burthens.  It 
sent  about  one-quarter  part  of  all  its  men  fit  for  military  duty  to 
suppress  the  great  Indian  rising  of  1675,  and  always  contributed  its 
full  quota  to  the  various  military  expeditions  against  the  French 
and  Indians  in  the  subsequent  3-ears  till  the  final  reduction  of  Can- 
ada. In  the  memorable  year  of  1775  the  people  rose  to  the  full 
magnitude  of  the  great  interests  at  stake ;  and  with  a  prospect  of 
suffering  and  gloom  opening  before  them,  declared  that  they  would 
defend  their  liberties  at  the  expense  of  all  that  was  dear  to  them. 
So  the}'  had  two  companies  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  sent 
altogether  two  hundred  and  twenty  men  in  the  first  campaign  of  the 
war ;  and  when  Capt.  Linzee,  in  the  sloop-of-war  Falcon,  attacked 
the  town  in  the  same  year,  and  attempted  plunder  and  destruction, 
they  boldly  met  his  force  and  defeated  and  captured  it :  and  when, 
after  a  year  of  great  hardship  and  suffering,  on  the  24th  of  June, 
177G,  the  great  question  of  a  declaration  of  independence  03-  Con- 
gress came  before  them  at  a  large  town-meeting  called  on  purpose 
to  consider  it,  the}-  voted  unanimously,  if  Congress  should  resolve 
upon  the  measure,  to  support  them  in  it  with  their  lives  and  for- 
tunes. In  ten  da}-s  the  Declaration  was  proclaimed  to  the  world. 
The  immortal  document  was  read  from  all  the  pulpits  of  Gloucester, 
and  copied  into  the  records  of  the  town.  It  was  also  copied  into 
the  records  of  the  Third  Parish,  whose  patriotic  clerk,  Thomas  Mar- 
ett,  added — u  May  God  Bless  these  Free  and  Independent  States 


13 


NEW  ENGLAND  FISH  CO., 


(Successors  to  A.  W.  Dodd,) 

Wholesale  Dealers  in  and  Ship- 
pers of 


DODD'S  WHARF,  GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 

.A..    W.    JBR^Y,    Agent. 

mmwemm  wmm  ©®* 

Wholesale  Deali 

Fresh  Halibut 


Wholesale  Dealers  and  Shippers  of 


COD,  HADDOCK, 

Salt  and  Pickled  Fish, 
Iter*'  WMrf9       Gtomeeater,  JK»#« 

W.  H.  OAKES, S:  G.  POOL, W.  H.  GARDNER. 

STOCKBEIDGE    &    CO., 

SHIPPERS  OF 


FRESH  HALIBUT 


and  Wholesale  Dealers  in 

FRESH  AND  SALT  FISH, 

STEAMBOAT  WHARF,       -       -       Foot  of  Duncan  Street, 


Seth  Stockbridge, 
D.  I.  Robinson. 


ursariour  fish  go., 

Wholesale  Dealers  and  Shippers  of 


FRESH 


FISH, 


GLOUCESTER,    MASS. 


STONE,  RICHARDS  &  CO., 
ANDREWS,  RICH  &  CO., 
P.  H.  PRIOR  &  CO. 


WM,  H.  COOK,  Agent  and  Treas, 


14 

Till  Time  shall  be  no  more,  with  Liberty,  Peace,  and  Safety.     May 
America  be  Emanuel's  Land.     Amen  and  Amen." 

The  Revolutionary  War  brought  great  poverty  and  distress  upon 
the  people  of  the  town.  Their  own  soil  afforded  but  a  scanty  sup- 
ply of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  they  were  obliged  to  send  vessels 
to  Virginia  for  the  corn  which  they  could  not  raise  at  home.  Their 
commerce  and  fisheries  were  destroyed.  The  young  and  middle- 
aged  men  fell  victims  to  the  war — some  on  the  battle-field,  some  by 
sickness  at  camp,  some  in  prison  ships,  and  many  in  the  depths  of 
the  ocean.  More  than  one  hundred  went  down  at  sea,  in  two  pri- 
vateer ships  which  were  never  heard  from  after  their  last  departure 
from  home  ;  and  more  than  three  hundred,  abofit  one-third  of  all  the 
able-bodied  men  of  the  town,  who  had  bravely  entered  into  the  con- 
test for  liberty,  were  no  longer  among  the  living  when  the  great 
"blessing  of  independence  was  secured.  With  this  result  achieved 
and  a  wide  field  for  energy  opened,  the  people  resumed  their  former 
pursuits,  and  though  the  ante-revolutionary  prosperity  of  the  fisher- 
ies was  not  fully  restored,  they  found  in  that  branch  and  a  success- 
ful foreign  commerce  sufficient  returns  to  3'ield  them  all  the  substan- 
tial enjo3'ments  of  existence. 


15 


HIGGINS&  GIFFOBD 


Manufacturers  of 


^mmm9 


SAIL  iiOATS,  SEINE  BOATS, 

ROW  BOATS,  PILOT  CANOES, 

YAWL  BOATS,  LAUNCHES, 

QUARTER  BOATS,  DINKEYS,  and 

DORIES. 

NEW  AND  SECOND-HAND 

Seine   Boats,  Dories  and 
Yawl  Boats, 

Constantly  on  Hand.    Also, 

Dealers  in  Boat  Trimmings. 

REFERENCES  .—Most  any  litter  in  Gloucester  or  New  England. 

P.  0.  Box,  No.  130,  GLOUCESTER,  MASS.       Send  for  Price  List. 

WIYI.  H.  WONSON  *  SON, 

Wholesale  Dealers  in  and  Curers  of 


Ml  Ofdei#,  ky  mail  of  otl\ef\vi£e,  promptly  attended  to 


Wm.  H.  Wonson, 
Wm.  H.  Wonson,  3d. 


CwLorcT^TKit,  Mass. 


simixtih:  &  gott, 


l&hole&aie    ^fi^K    1&ealev&1 


Sylvanus  Smith, 
Addison  Gott,  jr 


14:9    JACKSOIST    STREET, 

GlQuami§r9  Mass* 


VIEW  OF   THE   OLD   FORT   AND  HARBOR    IN  1837,   WITH  GRAND    BANKER 
AND  PJNKEY  AT  ANCHOR. 


CHAPTER  2. 

Early  Fisheries — New   Settlement — Fishing  Losses — Fisheries 

Previous  to  the  Revolution. 

Nature  has  marked  out  the  principal  employments  to  which  the 
people  who  dwell  on  Cape  Ann  must  resort  for  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence. When  they  want  bread  they  may,  indeed,  according  as 
the  demand  for  granite  is  great  or  small,  get  it  from  stone  ;  but 
their  chief  reliance  must  be  upon  the  occupations  which  call  upon 
men  to  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships.  We  have  alread}r  seen  that 
the  first  of  the  English  race  who  occupied  its  shores  were  attracted 
by  the  advantages  here  offered  for  carding  on  "  the  great  sea  busi- 
ness of  fishing." 

About  twenty  years  oefore  the  period  just  alluded  to,  Gosnold, 
the  first  navigator  known  to  have  visited  the  coast,  so  "pestered  his 
ships"  with  codfish,  while  lying  off  one  of  its  capes,  that  that  head- 
land, from  this  circumstance,  then .  received  the  name  it  has  ever 
since  borne — Cape  Cod.  Twelve  years  later  (1614)  another  Eng- 
lish captain,  the  famous  John  Smith,  found  about  Monhegan,  on  the 
coast  of  Maine,  "  within  a  square  of  two  or  three  leagues,"  the 
"  strangest  fish-pond"  he  ever  saw  ;  where,  in  1619,  an  English  ship 
got  a  fare  that  yielded  twent}--one  hundred  pounds  in  money  ;  and 
where,  the  next  year,  several  ships  did  even  better  than  that.  His 
account  of  the  abundance  offish  in  those  waters  has  even  a  touch  of 


17 


GEORGE  PERMINS  &  SON, 


WHOLESALE 


DEALERS  IN 


Dry  Fish,  Mackerel,  Smoked  Halibut,  k, 

fil,4)l  CASTER,  gf Aiie 

JOSEPH  O.  PBOCTEB, 

INSPECTOR  AND  WHOLESALE  DEALER  IN 


rg  m(l  §ickhd  <gi$ht 


COMMERCIAL  STREET, 

GLOUCESTER,    MASS. 

ffiod^i,  vmm  &  Co., 


WHOLESALE 


1 


■▲IJDBS, 


GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 

And  505  N.  2d  Street,        -        -        ST.  LOUIS. 
GEO.  P.  TRIGG  &  CO., 

WHOLESALE  DEALERS  IN 

Off  &  Pickled  Fish, 

PROVISIONS,  &c, 

182  Duane  Street,  NEW  YORK,  and 
GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 

GEO.  P.  TRIGG,  )         X.  II.    Manufactarem  of  the  Celebrated  ElIIE- 

SIMEON  M.  AYERS.  \  It  A  and  liOXX-LITCSiM  FISH. 


18 

poetic  rapture  ;  for  he  asks  "what  sport  doth  yield  a'  more  pleasing 
content,  and  less  hurt  or  charge,  than  angling  with  a  hook,  and 
crossing  the  sweet  air,  from  isle  to  isle,  over  the  silent  streams  of  a 
calm  sea."  From  the  date  of  Capt.  Smith's  voyage  English  ships 
continued  to  resort  to  the  coast  of  Maine  for  fish  for  several  }rears, 
but  their  visits  appear  to  have  ceased  soon  after  the  settlement  of 
the  country.  He  teUs  us  that  thirty-five  came  in  1622,  the  year  be- 
fore the  voyage  of  the  one  that  came  first  as  far  to  the  west  as  Cape 
Ann.  These  fishing  vo}*ages  to  the  coast  of  Maine  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  several  fishing  plantations  in  that  part  of  the  country, 
and  before  1640  it  seems  that  at  Pemaquid,  Casco  Bay,  Cape  Por- 
poise, Piscataqua,  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  and  perhaps  at  some  other 
places,  settlements  had  already  been  made,  from  one  of  which,  in 
the  six  years  from  1639  to  1645,  three  thousand  quintals  of  fish 
were  exported.  The  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  do  not  appear  to  have 
engaged  in  fishing  as  a  regular  employment ;  but,  in  the  first  settle- 
ment of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  at  Salem,  we  find  preparations 
for  fishing  ;  for,  in  1629,  materials  for  the  business  were  sent  over, 
and  mention  is  made  of  fishermen  among  the  settlers  ;  and,  as  early 
as  1634,  a  merchant  of  the  country  was  fishing  with  eight  boats  at 
Marblehead. 

The  last  date  brings  us  to  notice  a  new  settlement  on  our  own 
shores,  which  was  made  in  1633  ;  but  no  facts  authorize  us  to  say 
that  the  settlers  were  fishermen,  or,  indeed,  what  their  employments 
were.  The  lapse  of  six  years,  however,  again  connects  our  territory 
with  fishing  occupations,  and  brings  us  to  a  proper  starting  point 
for  a  brief  historical  sketch  of  the  fisheries  of  Gloucester. 

By  an  act  of  the  General  Court,  passed  May  22,  1639,  it  was  or- 
dered that  a  fishing  plantation  should  be  begun  at  Cape  Ann,  with 
certain  privileges  and  exemptions,  for  the  encouragement  of  Mr. 
Maurice  Thomson,  merchant  of  London,  and  others,  to  promote  the 
fishing  trade.  To  what  extent  Mr.  Thomson  availed  himself  of  the 
encouragement  here  offered,  no  one  now  can  tell,  and  if  it  were  not 
that  the  Gloucester  Records  contain  one  single  reference  to  the 
"  parcell  of  land  where  Mr.  Tomson's  frame  stood,"  there  would  ex- 
ist nothing  to  show  that  he  ever  even  commenced  the  enterprise. 
This  "  frame"  stood,  it  is  supposed,  on  what  was  afterwards  called 
Duncan's  Point,  so  named  from  Peter  Duncan,  a  merchant,  who 
owned  the  place  and  carried  on  a  small  trade  there  about  1662.  It 
is  worthy  of  note  that  a  steamer  now  leaves  this  very  spot  daily, 
laden  with  the  products  of  the  Gloucester  fisheries  to  be  distributed 


19 


Established  1849. 


John  Pew  &  Son, 

Producers  of  and  Wholesale  Dealers  in 


And  Importers  of 


83  Spring  Street,  Gloucester,  Mass. 


JOHN   PEW. 


CHAS.    H.    PEW. 


JOHN   J.    PEW. 


20 

all  over  this  vast  country.  It  seems  probable  that  Mr.  Thomson,  or 
some  one  else,  did  something  more  than  erect  a  frame  about  the  time 
the  act  was  passed  for  his  encouragement,  for  a  writer  of  that  period 
who  was  in  the  country  in  1639,  mentions  Cape  Ann  as  a  place 
"  where  fishing  is  set  forward,  and  some  stages  builded  ;"  and  anoth- 
er early  writer  calls  "  Cape  Ann  a  place  of  fishing ;  being  peopled 
with  fishermen  till  the  Reverend  Mr.  Richard  Blindman  came."  Of 
the  company  who  came  with  him,  and  of  other  settlers  who  came 
about  the  same  time,  it  does  not  appear  that  any  engaged  in  the  fish- 
ing business.  It  is  certain  that  nearly  if  not  all  of  them  sought  the 
most  favorable  spots  for  agriculture  they  could  find,  though  it  is  quite 
probable  that  a  few,  who  were  located  around  the  harbor,  may  have 
engaged  to  a  very  limited  extent  in  shore  fishing  in  small  boats.  In 
a  case  of  litigation,  in  1651,  about  a  piece  of  a  net,  mention  is  made 
of  "  the  bote  and  voyg  ;"  and  about  that  time  there  appears  to  have 
been  a  fishing  stage  at  Annisquam.  A  few  years  later  Peter  Duncan 
carried  on  a  small  trade  at  the  Point,  in  the  Harbor,  where  it  is  sup- 
posed that  Mr.  Thomson  erected  a  building  or  a  frame  for  the  pur- 
poses of  his  fisherj'  in  1639,  and,  in  company  with  others,  owned  a 
shallop.  One  man,  in  1663,  agreed  to  pay  a  debt  of  fifty  pounds  in 
"  good  merchantable  fish  and  mackerel,"  and  at  this  time  we  find 
"fish  and  mackerel"  among  the  articles  in  which  the  salary  of  the 
minister  was  to  be  paid  ;  but  not  till  man}T  years  after  the  settlement 
of  the  town  can  any  evidence  be  found  that  a  vessel  of  sufficient  size 
to  resort  to  distant  fishing  banks  was  owned  in  it.  In  two  instances, 
in  1680,  a  sloop  is  found  as  part  of  the  property  of  deceased  settlers, 
and,  in  1693,  a  tax-list  on  record  at  the  State  House  in  Boston,  shows 
that  all  the  personal  estate  of  this  description,  then  held  by  the  people 
of  Gloucester,  was  composed  of  six  sloops,  a  shallop  and  a  boat ; 
and  one  or  more  of  these,  there  is  reason  to  suppose,  was  emphyved 
in  wood-coasting.  In  1695  the  sons  of  Jeffrey  Parsons  had  a  fishing 
stage  at  Fisherman's  Field,  and  one  of  them,  who  died  in  1714,  had 
one  third  of  a  fishing  vessel,  one  half  a  shallop,  and  one  half  of  an 
open  sloop,  all  valued  at  £54  ;  and  another,  who  died  in  1722,  had 
three  "scooners,"  part  of  two  sloops,  and  shop  goods  and  stores  for 
fishing.  At  the  last  named  date  this  business  seems  to  have  become 
firmly  established  in  the  town,  though  to  what  extent  it  was  pursued 
can  be  a  matter  of  conjecture  only ;  but  it  seems  quite  certain  that 
persons  were  engaged  in  it  at  the  Harbor  and  at  Annisquam, — at  the 
latter  place  more  extensively,  perhaps,  than  at  the  former,  for  one 
merchant,  whose  vessels  sailed  from  'Squam  River,  died  in  1734,  leav- 


21 


Jas.  G.Tarr&Bro 


Wholesale  Dealers  in 


I) 


DRY  AND  PICKLED 

fisb, 

MACKEREL 

AND 

MERMSWCJ. 

Prime  SMOKED  HALIBUT, 

OP  OUB  OWN  CUBING!, 
A    SPECIALTY. 


All  orders  from  any  part  of  the  country 
promptly  attended  to  at  the  lowest  market 
price  the  day  the  order  is  received. 

SEND  FOR  PRICE  LIST. 

We  fit  out  sixteen  vessels  and  therefore 
obtain  our  fish  from  first  hands. 

P.  S.  The  accompanying  cut  represents 
our  fitting-out  and  curing  establishment  at 
GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 

JAtfEM  G.  TARB. 
DAVID  TA11R. 


SHUTE   Ac   MERCHANT, 

CURERS  OF  AND  DEALERS  Of 


DRY  and   PICKLED   FISH, 

—ALSO,— 

BONELESS  and  PREPARED  PISH. 

CJxoucester,  Mas*.    . 


22 

ing  six  schooners,  a  wharf  and  fishing-room  at  Canso,  and  a  large 
amount  of  other  property. 

A  more  extensive  maritime  business  in  another  branch  had,  how- 
ever, been  commenced  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
A  portion  of  the  wood  land  of  the  Cape  was  then  divided  and  many 
vessels  were  built  in  the  town  and  used  in  the  transportation  of  this 
article  to  Boston.  There  seems  to  be  good  ground  for  believing  that 
as  many  as  fifty  sloops  must  have  been  engaged  in  it  at  one  time  ; 
but  it  was  a  trade  that  must  necessarily  be  of  short  duration,  and 
finally  other  employments  for  the  vessels  must  be  sought.  Fishing 
was,  of  course,  the  only  resource,  and  we  find,  before  1720,  several 
sloops  engaged  in  the  distant  fisheries.  As  early  as  1711  certainly 
our  fishermen  began  to  resort  to  Cape  Sable,  and  in  1716  mention  is 
made  of  a  "scooner"  employed  in  fishing  there  : — the  same  one  per- 
haps, the  first  of  her  class,  that  was  built  and  owned  by  Capt.  An- 
drew Robinson,  a  noted  fishing  captain  who  invented  the  rig  of  that 
class  of  vessels.  This  man  is  said  to  have  been  so  industrious  on 
the  banks,  when  fish  were  plent3T,  that  he  would  not  leave  his  place 
on  deck  even  to  eat ;  but  when  he  was  hungry  he  had  a  ship-biscuit 
brought  to  him  which  he  contrived  to  eat  by  working  it  round  in 
his  mouth  with  his  teeth  and  lips,  while  his  hands  were  attending  to 
the  hook  and  line.  During  these  first  years  of  the  fishery  the  men 
were  greatly  anno}Ted  by  the  French  and  Indians,  and  some  were  kill- 
ed ;  but  the  business  was  rendered  most  discouraging  by  the  havoc 
of  shipwreck.  The  year  171G  is  a  year  memorable  in  the  annals  of 
the  town  for  the  first  sad  and  sweeping  calamity  of  the  kind,  which 
has  so  often  since  shrouded  it  in  mourning.  On  this  mournful  occa- 
sion, five  vessels,  comprising,  upon  a  reasonable  supposition,  not  less 
than  one-tenth  part  of  all  the  tonnage  of  the  town,  were  wholly  lost 
in  that  3'ear  on  a  fishing  voyage  to  Cape  Sable  ;  and  about  twenty 
men,  a  fifteenth  part,  probabty,  of  all  the  male  citizens  of  the  place, 
perished  by  the  catastrophe. 

The  histor}-  of  the  Gloucester  fishery  from  this  time  to  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  may  be  briefly  related.  The  vessels  with  which  the 
business  was  first  carried  on  were  the  sloops  built  in  the  town.  A 
few  schooners  were  added  about  1720,  and  probably  soon  became  the 
favorite  class  of  vessels  for  this  business.  Many  of  them  were  of 
the  burthen  of  fifty  tons  or  more,  and  were  therefore  suitable  for 
voyages  to  the  Grand  Bank  and  other  distant  fishing  grounds,  and 
for  employment  in  coastwise  and  foreign  vo3'ages  in  the  winter  sea- 
son.    They  were  of  a  peculiar  model,  which  prevailed  about  a  hun- 


23 


<0i ALL,  DAI  &  c-q 


Manufacturers  of 


of  dap  £  §ilwn 


SPECIAL    ATTEJIIOI    CilVEX    TO 

FISHERMEN'S  OUTFITS, 

CABLES, 
Net  B&p§t  Tmwl  Lines:,  dke,  dk§, 

GANGS  OF  RIGGING  made  to  order  at  Short  Notice. 

83  &  85  Commercial  Street, 

ZBOST02ST. 


24 


dred  years.  The  following  is  an  exact  representation  of  the  model 
and  rig  of  the  "old  banker,"  one  of  which  appears  in  the  tank  at  the 
Gloucester  department  of  the  Centennial  Exhibition  at  Philadelphia. 


MODEL  OF  GRAND  BANKER  OF  1741. 

About  seventy  of  these  schooners  were  owned  in  Gloucester  in 
1741,  and  nearly  all  of  them  were  probably  engaged  in  the  Grand 
Bank  fishery.  In  the  fishing  voyages,  it  was  the  custom  for  the  men 
to  go,  as  it  was  called,  "  on  their  own  hook :"  that  is,  an  account 
was  kept  of  the  fish  caught  by  each  man ;  and,  at  the  end  of  the 
voyage,  the  proceeds  were  distributed  accordingly.  The  reason  for 
such  a  practice  is  sufficiently  apparent  in  the  account  of  a  seasons' 
work  by  one  crew  on  the  Grand  Bank  in  1757.  In  that  year,  the 
Sch'r  "Abigail,"  Capt.  Paul  Hughes,  made  three  trips  in  about  six 
months,  and  fished,  in  all,  sixty-seven  days,  with  the  following  result 
as  to  the  number  of  codfish  caught  by  each  one  of  her  crew  of  six 
men:  Paul  Hughes,  6643  ;  B.Foster,  5000;  Job  Galloway,  4244 ; 
Nathaniel  Day,  3929  ;  Rufus  Stacy,  3784  ;  William  Smith,  3435. 

Notwithstanding  the  discouragements  of  the  twent}T  3Tears  immedi- 
ately preceding  the  reduction  of  Canada,  growing  out  of  the  wars  of 
that  period,  and  occasional  losses  by  shipwreck,  there  was  no  abate- 
ment of  the  energy  with  which  the  people  of  the  town  pursued  the 
fishery.  During  that  time  it  became  the  basis  of  a  considerable  for- 
eign trade  which  was  not  only  profitable  to  the  merchants,  but  bene- 
ficial to  the  fishermen  in  giving  them  winter  employment.  In  the 
latter  years  of  the  period  now  under  consideration,  we  find  Glouces- 
ter vessels  making  voyages  to  Cadiz,  Bilbao,  Lisbon,  and  different 


25 


SMITH  &  BUENHAM, 


WHOLESALE  DEALERS  IX 


DRY,  PICKLED 

AND 

SMOKED  FISH, 

Jos.  Friend's  Wharf,  GLOUCESTEE,  MASS. 

H.  C.  Smith,        )         46g=>Especial  attention  given  to  putting  up  Boneless  Cod,  Tongues 
E.  K.  Burnham,  \  and  Sounds,  Mackerel,  &c. 

:f".  "w.  homans, 

•WHOLESALE 

Dealer,  Shipper  &  >^  Exporter  of  Fish, 

Also  Importer  of  and  Wholesale  Dealer  in 

MOLASSES    -AJSTID     TEAS, 

GILBERT'S  WHARF,        -        GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 

REAR    OF    CITY    LAADOG. 


d.  c  <§fe 


BSOK, 


Receivers  and  Wholesale  Dealers  in 


DRY  and  PICKLED 

FISH, 


ih 


ORDERS  SOLICITED  AND 
PROMPTLY  FILLED. 


!  Fishing  QutStB, 

Gloucester,  Mass. 


11.  ©.  B1«BI©S8       HENRY  W.  MEARS, 

Wholesale  Dealer  in 


FRE1  AID  PMIED  Hi 


ATVX>  OILS. 

Wharf    at    ROCKY    NECK. 
P.  O.  Address, 

taut  Gloucester.  Mass. 


Manufacturer  of  Best  Quality 

f|tftt<m  %*\\m  %w&> 

TRAWL  LINES, 
ESSEX,    MASS. 

Orders  by  mail  will  receive  prompt  attention. 


26 

ports  in  the  West  Indies  ;  besides  which  it  had  also  become  common 
for  them  to  make  trading  voyages  in  the  Winter  season  to  Virginia. 

The  peace  of  1763  secured  to  our  people  unmolested  use  of  the 
fishing  grounds,  and,  from  this  time  to  the  Revolution,  they  carried 
on  the  business  with  energy  and  success  ;  though  one  of  those  terri- 
ble misfortunes  that  shocks  a  whole  community,  and  brings  unutter- 
able sorrow  to  many  private  bosoms,  occurred  in  the  meantime  and 
cast  its  sad  gloom  over  the  town.  In  March,  1766,  nineteen  vessels 
sailed  for  the  Grand  Bank,  and,  while  on  the  passage  thither,  were 
met  by  a  violent  storm,  which  wrecked  and  scattered  the  fleet,  and 
sent  many  to  the  bottom.  Two  were  cast  away  at  Nova  Scotia ; 
seven  foundered  at  sea,  with  all  on  board  ;  and  several  of  the  others 
were  so  much  disabled  that  they  were  obliged  to  return.  The  num- 
ber of  men  lost  by  these  shipwrecks  is  not  known,  but  it  was  not 
probably  less  than  forty. 

We  know  but  little  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  Bank  and 
shore  fisheries  at  this  time  ;  but  it  seems  that  the  latter  were  almost 
wholly  confined  to  Sandy  Bay  and  the  coves  on  the  outside  of  the 
Cape,  while  the  chief  seat  of  the  former  was  at  the  Harbor.  From 
such  information  as  can  be  obtained,  it  appears  that  from  1770  to 
1775,  between  seventy  and  eighty  schooners,  of  an  average  value  of 
one  thousand  dollars,  resorted  yearly  to  the  Grand  Bank  for  cod  ; 
and  about  seventy  boats  fished  for  cod  and  hake  and  pollock  on  the 
ledges  near  our  own  coast.  The  business  yielded  a  scanty  support 
to»  the  fishermen,  and,  as  a  class,  they  were  poor ;  though  then,  as  in 
more  recent  times,  some  who  began  at  the  hook  and  line  rose  to  be 
the  most  prominent  and  successful  among  the  merchants  who  carried 
it  on.  No  means  exist  for  ascertaining  the  average  annual  earnings 
of  the  fishermen ;  but  the  accounts  of  a  single  schooner  for  1773  are 
preserved,  and  show  the  product  of  her  two  trips  to  the  Banks  to 
have  been  550  1-2  quintals  of  fish,  which  sold  for  £302. 9s.,  or  a  lit- 
tle more  than  one  thousand  dollars  in  silver  money.  Supposing  the 
number  of  the  crew  to  have  been  six,  and  deducting  the  expenses 
and  the  vessel's  part,  and  the  bill  for  necessar}7  supplies  to  the  fami- 
ly of  the  poor  fisherman  while  absent,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  could 
have  remained  little  or  no  surplus  of  his  season's  work,  and  that 
want  must  soon  have  compelled  him  to  hurry  away  again  once  more 
upon  the  waters,  as  a  sailor  in  the  foreign  or  coastwise  trade  of  the 
town. 

Such  is  a  brief  historical  sketch  of  the  Gloucester  fisheries  down 
to  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  at  which  time  the  town 


27 


MANUFACTURERS  OF 


> 


NETS,  SEINES  and  TWINE, 

No.  Ill  COMMERCIAL  STREET, 

BOSTON. 


FISHERMEN  AND  OUTFITTERS. 

MACKEREL  SEINE  NETTING  made  from  Sadleij  Twine. 

We  keep  in  our  stock  but  one  grade  of  FOG  IE  SEINE  TWINE  and  NET- 
TING, and  that  the  very  best  manufactured  in  the  country,  without  regard  to  cost. 

PURSE  MACKEREL  SEINES,  fitted  complete,  ready  for  the  water,  of  best 
materiai,  at  moderate  cost. 

POUNDS,  WEIRS,  TRAPS,  SHORE  and  MINNOW  SEINES  and  NETS. 

LINEN  GILL  NETS  made  from  Knox  Linen  Twine. 

Patent  and  Seine  Twine,  Maitre  Cord,  Hemp  and  steam-tarred  Ma- 
nilla Seine  Rope,  Russia  Purse  Line,  Spooner's  Whale  Line,  Oak 
and  Cedar  Buoys,  Seine  Rings,  Leads,  &c,  &c, 

IK  LARGE  STOCK,  A\I>    FOR    §ALE  AT  LOWEST  PRICES  BY 

H.  &  C.  W.  LORD, 

111  Commercial  St.,  BOSTON. 


28 

had  risen  to  be  the  second  in  New  England  in  this  important  busi- 
ness, in  which  Marblehead  took  the  lead,  and  was  but  slightly  in  ad- 
vance of  our  own  town.  To  sum  it  up  in  a  few  words  it  may  be 
stated  that  in  the  fisheries  of  the  town  there  were  then  engaged  at 
least  one  hundred  and  fifty  schooners  and  boats,  aggregating  four 
thousand  eight  hundred  tons,  and  employing  six  hundred  men.  The 
yearly  product  of  dried  fish  may  be  estimated  at  about  fortj'-eight 
thousand  quintals,  the  value  of  which  did  not  vary  much  either  way 
from  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

During  the  Revolutionary  War  the  fishing  schooners  could  not  be 
employed  for  the  business  in  which  they  had  been  previously  engag- 
ed. Several  were  converted  into  privateers,  a  few  rotted  at  the 
wharves,  and  some  were  preserved  till  peace  again  made  it  safe  to 
engage  in  the  Grand  Bank  fishery.  A  few  small  boats  fished  along 
the  shores,  but  their  product  was  of  inconsiderable  amount,  and  small 
as  it  was,  probably  exceeded  the  limited  demand  for  home  consump- 
tion.     The  boats  used  in  this  shore  fishery  were  called  Chebacco 


MODEL  OF  CHEBACCO  BOAT. 

boats,  from  the  name  of  the  place  where  they  were  built — a  part  of 
Ipswich,  now  the  town  of  Essex.  The  name  has  a  striking  similari- 
ty to  that  of  a  small  vessel  mentioned  in  the  French  marine  diction- 
aries— the  chabek;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  our  Chebacco  boats 
derived  their  appellation  as  here  stated  ;  and  it  is  quite  probable  that 
in  rig  and  model  they  were  peculiar  to  Cape  Ann  and  were  first  used 
in  its  waters.  Like  the  "old  Bankers,"  they  have  now  entirely  dis- 
appeared. 


29 


ALL    KINDS    OF 


Nets,  Seines,  Lines  and  Twines, 

Suited  to  the  Fisheries  of  the  Continent, 
manufactured  by  the 

AMEKICAN  NET  &  TWINE  CO., 


43  Commercial  Street, 


BOSTON,  MASS 


O-IRI^IFiniT     BROS, 

EASTPORT,  MAINE, 

Commission   Merchants, 


AND  DEALERS  IN 


FISH,  FISH  OILS  &  FISH  GUANO, 

AND  CURERS  OF  THE  WORLD  RENOWXED 

"  FINNAN  HADDIES "  and  YARMOUTH  BLOATERS. 


ALSO, 


Manufacturers  of  the  Original  Cape  Ann  Oil  Clothing. 


Factories  at 


EASTPORT,    MIAZNTE. 
CAMPOBELLO,    ]ST.    B. 


CITY  OF  GLOUCESTER,  1876. 


CHAPTER  3. 


Decline  of  the   Bank   Fishery — Fishing   Company — Resumption 
of  Bank  Trips — Shore  Fishery — Mackerel  Fishery,  Etc. 

On  the  resumption  of  the  Bank  fishery,  after  the  war,  it  appears 
from  one  statement  that  sixty  vessels  resorted  thither  from  Glouces- 
ter ;  but  the  merchants  of  the  town  soon  found  a  more  profitable 
employment  in  foreign  commerce,  and  this  branch  of  the  fishery  rap- 
idly declined  till  1804,  when  we  find  that  the  whole  number  of  ves- 
sels over  thirty  tons  engaged  in  the  fisheries  of  the  town  was  only 
eight ;  and  this  falling-off  in  the  particular  branch  here  mentioned  is 
fully  explained  by  the  fact,  that  all  the  traditions  of  the  business  re- 
port that  the  average  earnings  of  the  Bank  fishermen  were  so  small, 
that  they  were  kept  in  a  condition  of  poverty.  Seeing  this  deca- 
dence, and  stimulated  in  some  degree  perhaps  by  encouragement 
from  the  general  government,  in  the  wajr  of  bount}-,  a  few  public- 
spirited  citizens  attempted  to  put  new  vigor  into  the  business  by  the 
organization  of  a  fishing  company  with  an  authorized  capital  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  This  company  began  operations  in  1819,  by  fit- 
ting out  seven  schooners,  but  it  soon  found  that  a  business  which 
private  capital  avoided  could  hardly  be  expected  to  yield  profit,  even 
to  the  best  corporation  management ;  and,  at  the  end  of  the  third 
year,  the  enterprise  came  to  an  end,  with  a  loss  of  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  capital  invested  in  it, — a  result  which  seemed  to  ex- 
tinguish all  hope  of  prosperity  from  the  pursuit  of  this  branch  of 
industry.  In  1820  the  U.  S.  Census  showed  that  the  population  of 
the  town  had  increased  but  twenty  per  cent,  in  thirty  years,  and, 
with  the  total  extinction  of  its  Grand  Bank  fishery,  few  entertained 


31 


B.  GRIFFIN  &  SON, 

Wholesale  Dealers  in 

FISH  BOXES 

OF  ALL  KINDS, 

IN  SHOOK  OR  MADE  UP. 

Large  Quantities  constantly  on  hand. 

42  Front  Street, 
GLOUCESTER,    MASS. 


JOSEPH  PARSONS, 

Manufacturer  of 

OIL  CLOTHING, 

AND 

Fishermen's  Furnishing  Goods, 

Water  St.,  East  Gloucester. 

OIL  CLOTHING  at  Wholesale  and  Retail. 

Orders  from  all  parts  of  the  Country 
promptly  attended  to. 


Gloucester  Fire  Insurance  Co. 

GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 

ASSETS,    $186,400. 

JOHN  CUNNINGHAM,  Sec'7.  JOSIAH  0.  FRIEND,  Prest. 


GEO.  R.  BRADFORD, 
WILLIAM  A.  PEW, 
ROBERT  FEARS, 
ANDREW  W.  DODD, 
MICHAEL  WALEN, 


DIRECTORS. 

HENRY  A.  BURNHAM, 
JOSIAH  O.  FRIEND, 
JOSEPH  O.  PROCTER, 
GEORGE  J.  TARR, 
JAMES  A.  STETSON, 


MONSON  L.  WETHERELL, 
BENNETT  GRIFFIN, 
FRED.  G.  WONSON, 
JOSEPH  GARLAND, 
CHARLES  S.  ROGERS. 


D.  E.  WOODBURY, 

Commission     Merchant, 

DRY  &  PICKLED  FISH, 
wmw  oe^s,  bam9  &e*9 

GrLOUCESTER,      MASS. 

AX£X.      fflcCURDY, 

SHIP-SMITH, 

And  Manufacturer  of 


Fishermen's  Knives, 

AND 

BAIT  MILLS, 

Which  we  make  a  specialty.     Orders  fro'm 
all  parts  of  the  country  promptly  attended  to. 

EAST  GLOUCESTER,  TI  \  **. 


On  Georges  in  a  Storm ! 

THIS  BEAUTIFUL  PAINTING 

Has  been  Photographed,  and  copies  may  be 
obtained  of  ."Procter  Itrothcri*.  It  is  a 
fine  picture,  showing  two  schooners  riding 
at  anchor  and  another  jogging  under  a  dou- 
ble-reefed foresail.  Just*  such  a  picture  as 
everybody  wants. 
Copyright  secured  according  to  law. 
Send  7$  cents  to 

PROCTER  BROS.,  Gloucester,  Mass., 

and  receive  by  return  mail  one  of  the  above 
pictures. 


32 

a  belief  that  it  would  ever  again  recover  the  ratio  of  ante-revolution- 
ary  growth.  For  a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years  this  fishery 
ceased  to  be  of  airy  account  in  the  business  of  the  town,  but,  since 
about  1860,  the  increased  demand  and  consequent  higher  price  of 
fish  have  induced  man}7  of  its  merchants  to  send  their  vessels  to  the 
ancient  fishing  ground  which  contributed  so  largety  to  the  early  pros- 
perity of  Gloucester,  and  which,  in  recent  years,  has  been  one  of  the 
chief  sources  of  that  increase  in  business  by  which  it  has  risen  to  its 
present  importance.  The  success  with  which  this  fishery  is  now  pur- 
sued is  doubtless  due  in  a  considerable  degree  to  the  practice  of 
trawl-fishing.  From  the  earliest  times,  till  within  a  few  years  past, 
it  was  the  custom  of  the  New  England  fishermen,  who  resorted  to 
that  Bank,  to  fish  from  the  vessel  only  ;  but  they  now  use  the  French 


MODEL  OF  TRAWLER  OF  1876. 

mode  of  fishing  with  trawls,  which  are  lines,  sometimes  several  hun- 
dred feet  in  length,  with  short  lines  and  baited  hooks  suspended  from 
them  at  frequent  intervals.  They  are  often  set  a  long  distance  from 
the  vessel,  and  as  this  work  must  be  done  and  the  trawls  tended  in 
dories,  as  their  small  boats  are  called,  it  is  sometimes  very  hazard- 
ous, and,  unhappily,  liable  to  fatal  accidents. 

During  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century,  when,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  Grand  Bank  fishery  was  almost  totally  abandoned  by  the 
Gloucester  fishermen,  the  shore  fishery  continued  to  give  employment 


33 


CUNNINGHAM  &  THOMPSON, 


(Successors  to  POOL  &  CUNNINGHAM,) 


Producers  & 


Shippers  of 


At  the  Old  Fort  Wharf,   -    -    -     GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 

WM.  B.  COOMBS,  DENNIS  &  COLBY, 

Fish  Buyer  &  Shipper 


McQUINN'S  WHARF, 

EAST  GLOUCESTER. 

Highest  CASH  Market  Prices  Paid. 

Extra  inducements  offered  to  Nova  Scotia 
vessels  coming  to  the  port  of  Gloucester  for 
a  market.  All  trips  settled  for  as  soon  as 
the  fish  are  weighed  off. 


tail  MmMmwm9 

BURNHAM'S  LOFT, 

Near  Union  Hill,        Gloucester,  Mass. 

All  orders  will  receive  our  personal  atten- 
tion and  satisfaction  guaranteed. 

Repairing  promptly  attended  to. 


J.  F.  WONSON  &  CO. 


WHOLESALE   FISH    DEALERS, 

EAST  GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 


John  F.  Wonson, 
Frederic  G.  Wonson, 


Roger  W.  Wonson, 
Franklin  A.  Wonson. 


Wm.  I*.  Ellery, 

HOUSB.SHIP  £  SIGNPAIHTER, 

AND  DEALER  IN 

Paints,  Oils,  Varnish,  Japan, 

And  COPPER  PAINT. 

Orders  for  Vessel  or  House  Painting  prompt- 
ly attended  to. 

"'LSJ'm™'  j     Gloucester,  Mass. 


w,  jr.  mmimu  «§  €@, 

DEALERS  IN 

STOVES, 


ALSO  IN 


i  Lanterns,    Fog    Horns,    Tin, 

Sheet  Iron,  Copper  and 

Britannia  Ware 

For  vessels  use.  Vessel  Work  a  specialty 
and  attended  to  with  promptness.  All  or- 
ders will  receive  personal  attention. 

146  Front  St.,   Gloucester,  Mass. 


34 

to  a  considerable  number  of  the  people.  At  the  commencement  of 
this  period  about  two  hundred  Chebacco  boats,  measuring  nearly 
three  thousand  tons,  and  employing  about  six  hundred  men,  were 
engaged  in  it.  These  boats  resorted  to  the  ledges  and  shoal  grounds 
near  the  coast,  where  they  found  at  different  seasons,  cod,  hake  and 
pollock.  This  boat-fishing  was  chiefly  carried  on  at  Sandy  Bay, 
Annisquam,  and  the  other  coves  on  the  outside  of  the  Cape,  but  the 
advantage  of  a  good  harbor  for  their  large  boats  drew  a  few  of  the 
people  away  from  these  localities,  to  settle  at  the  Harbor,  soon  after 
1800.  An  increase  in  the  size  of  the  boats  soon  took  place,  and  by 
the  end  of  the  period  now  under  consideration  several  pink-stern 


MODEL  OF  "PINKEY"  OF  1810. 


schooners,  or  jiggers,  as  the}'  were  sometimes  called,  were  employed 
in  the  business.  This  shore  fishery  for  cod  probably  reached  its 
maximum  in  1832,  when  the  amount  of  tonnage  engaged  in  it  was 
6463  tons,  the  number  of  men  employed  799,  and  the  product  offish 
63,112  quintals,  valued  at  $157,780;  to  which  must  be  added  the 
bounty  of  $25,172,  received  from  the  general  government.  But 
another  fishery  had  now  for  a  few  3-ears  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
fishermen ;  and  the  shore-fishing  for  cod,  except  that  carried  on  in 
winter,  declined  from  this  time,  till  it  came  to  be,  as  at  the  present 
day,  of  insignficant  account  in  the  business  of  the  town. 

Of  the  early  history  of  the  mackerel  fishery  in  New  England,  as 
well  as  that  for  cod,  very  little  is  known.  Gov.  Winthrop,  standing 
41  to  and  again  "  within  sight  of -Cape  Ann,  all  of  one  da}'  in  June, 


35 

T.  DEL  -MLJ^ITO  <fe  CO., 

DEALERS  IN  MANILLA  AND  HEMP  CORDAGE, 

Duck,    Chains,   Anchors,    Paints,    Oils,   Varnishes,    &c. 


No.  107  Commercial  St.,  BOSTON. 


Richard  A.  At  wood,  i 


Agents  for  TARE  &  WONSON'S  PATENT  METALLIC  OR  COPPER  PAINT. 

PEAKING,   EODMAN  &    SWIFT, 

SELLING  AGENTS  OF 

Lawrence  Duck  Company,      Old  Colony  Duck  Company, 
New  Bedford  Cordage  Company, 

AND  PROPRIETORS  OF 

STANDARD   CHAIN   WORKS, 

23  &  25  Commercial  St.,  BOSTON. 

HENRY  L.  FEARING.  FRANCIS  RODMAN.  WM.  C  SWIFT 

WEST,  PARKMAN  &  SON, 
HAED¥AEE     GOODS, 

AND 

william  pabkman,     I       No.  5  Dock  Square,  BOSTON. 

WILLIAM  PARKMAN,  JR. )  ,W       ^     ^vv"x    ^""«^J     wwivmi. 

Constantly  on  hand  Fish  Hooks,  Twines  and  Lines. 

EATON,  HARRINGTON  &  DANA, 
HARD  WAKE,  COEDAG-E 

FISHERMEN'S  OUTFITS. 

X.  E.  AGEXTS  FOB 

Mallory,  Wheeler  k,  Co.   American  Screw  Co.   Gajlord  Mfg.  Co.  JmlJ  Mfg.  Co. 
Nos.  28  and  30  PEARL  STREET, 


36 

1G30,  "  took  many  mackerels  "  ;  and  three  years  later  a  man  was  lost 
from  a  passenger  ship,  b}T  drowning,  as  he  was  casting  forth  a  line 
in  trying  to  catch  some.  As  early  as  1653  a  coastwise  trade  in  this 
fish  had  commenced,  and  in  later  years  it  seems  certain  that  some 
were  shipped  to  foreign  ports ;  for  we  find  that,  in  1692,  the  remon- 
strants against  an  order  passed  by  the  General  Court  that  no  person 
should  haul  ashore  any  mackerel  with  any  sort  of  nets  or  seines 
whatsoever,  and  that  no  person  should  catch  any,  except  for  use 
while  fresh,  before  the  first  of  July  annually,  in  refutation  of  the  as- 
sertion that  mackerel  will  not  "save  well"  in  May  and  June,  state 
that  they  have  shipped  mackerel  caught  in  those  months  beyond  sea, 
and  add  that  they  kept  as  well  as  those  caught  in  other  months.  There 
can  scarcely  be  a  doubt,  therefore,  that  this  fish  was  to  some  extent 
an  article  of  trade  among  the  early  colonists  ;  and  we  know  that, 
before  the  Revolutionary  war,  several  vessels  were  emplo3'ed  in  this 
fishery  from  the  harbors  on  the  south  side  of  Massachusetts  Bay  ; 
but  Gloucester  fishermen  do  not  seem  to  have  given  much  attention 
to  it  till  about  1821,  for  in  the  thirteen  years  immediately  preceding 
that  date  we  find  that,  according  to  the  inspection  returns,  the  whole 
number  packed  here  was  only  1171  barrels.  From  this  time,  how- 
ever, the  business  rapidly  increased ;  the  fish  became  so  abundant  in 
our  waters  that,  in  1825,  a  single  jigger,  carrying  eight  men,  took 
over  1300  barrels,  and  in  1831  the  whole  catch  of  the  town  rose  to 
69,759  barrels  ;  but  after  the  last  named  date  mackerel  began  to  be 
scarce  on  our  own  coast,  and  the  catch  declined  so  rapidly  that,  in 
1840,  it  amounted  to  only  8870  barrels;  and  in  that  and  the  four 
following  years  the  total  aggregate  taken  by  Gloucester  fishermen 
amounted  to  no  more  than  66,547  barrels.  About  this  time  the  en- 
terprise of  the  fishermen  led  them  to  pursue  the  mackerel  into  their 
distant  retreats  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  for  several  years 
nearly  all  the  vessels  of  the  town  engaged  in  this  fishery  resorted  to 
that  region,  and  it  became  the  chief  source  from  which  the  demand 
for  the  fish  could  be  supplied.  With  success  widety  varying  from 
year  to  year  the  mackerel  fishery  has  continued  to  be  pursued  to  the 
present  time.  Late  in  the  Spring  months  the  fishermen  start  to  meet 
the  "  schools  "  when  they  make  their  first  appearance  in  the  waters 
south  of  New  England,  from  which  they  follow  them  to  our  own 
coast  and  into  the  seas  of  British  America  ;  but  it  is  a  precarious 
fishery  and  it  is  agreed  that  a  good  deal  depends  upon  luck ;  for 
there  is  often  a  wide  difference  in  the  result  of  the  season's  work  of 
men  equally  diligent  and  equally  skilled  in  the  business.     Of  late  it 


37 


GEO.  HARVEY, 


shipsmztb, 


Duncan  St.,  GLOUCESTER. 

Anchors  and  Vessel  Work  a   specialty. 
Satisfaction  guaranteed. 


CAPE    ANN 


Neatly  arranged  on  Cards,  in  packs  of 

one  or  more  dozens,  or  in  Books, 

comprising  fine  varieties. 

Price  per  Doz.  $1.50;    Books  accord- 


For  further  particulars  write  to  Mrs.  A. 
X.  Davis  or  Mrs.  31.  II.  Biay,  GLOU- 
CESTER, MASS.  4S=-  Orders  accompanied 
by  cash  will  receive  prompt  attention. 


H.    C.    HUBBARD, 

Sttorqey  &  Counsellor'  kt  l<aw, 

BERGENGREN'S  BLOCK, 

Front  Street,         GLOUCESTER,  Mass. 

All   business   attended  to    with   diligence   until    finished. 


CHRESTEN  NELSON,  Prop. 


Nelson's  Pat.  Duck  Preserver, 

(PATENTED  JAN.  7,  1873.) 

Warranted  to    protect    Ships*    Sails, 

Awnings,    Tents,  and  all   kinds 

of  Hemp  and  Cotton  Canvas 

from  Mildew  and  Decay. 

SATLS,  &c.  saturated  in  this  PRE- 
SERVER, will  keep  free  from  mildew  and 
mould  till  worn  out,  and  remain  white  as 
when  new,  as  shown  by  numerous  Testi- 
monials, after  a  test  of  two  years. 

MANUFACTURED  AT 

No.  81  Spring  St.,  Gloucester,  Mass. 

SEND  FOR  CIRCULAR. 


W.  W.  FRENCH, 

Attorney  <&  CounseiloratLaw, 

TAPPAN  BLOCK, 

12*  Fro\t  Street, 


MOSES  L  ANDREWS, 

»$t  and  $par  ^\tt, 

NEAR  CENTRAL  WHARF, 


Gloucester,   mass.  I  Rogers  St.,  Gloucester,  Mass. 


38 

has  become  customary  to  take  these  fish  b}'  seining,  and  when  the 
net  surrounds  a  "school,"  there  is  a  chance,  indeed  almost  a  certain- 
ty, of  a  great  haul ;  but  it  sometimes  happens  to  a  fishing  crew  that 
no  such  chance  occurs  for  months,  and  a  bad  voj-age  for  the  vessel 
and  the  men  is  the  unfortunate  result.  The  cases  of  total  or  partial 
failure,  however,  are  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  create  discourage- 
ment, or  to  excite  apprehension  that  Gloucester  will  soon  cease  to 
exhibit  that  preponderance  in  this  fishery  it  has  so  long  enj'03-ed.  It 
is  true  that  the  last  year  was  one  of  poor  success,  but  in  the  preced- 
ing the  quantity  of  mackerel  packed  in  this  city  was  118,314  barrels, 
of  the  net  value  probably  of  more  than  one  million  dollars. 

A  remarkable  feature  in  the  modern  business  of  Gloucester  is  the 
fishery  for  halibut  on  Georges  Bank  and  Grand  Bank.  This  fish  is 
the  only  one  of  the  flat  kind,  so  far  as  we  know,  that  is  extensively 
used  as  an  article  of  food  in  this  country.  It  is  found  in  the  waters 
of  Northern  Europe,  and  is  said  to  afford  a  considerable  part  of  the 
diet  of  the  people  on  the  coast  of  Lapland,  where  it  sometimes  at- 
tains the  weight  of  five  hundred  pounds.  Those  of  a  little  more 
than  half  this  weight,  or  about  three  hundred  pounds,  are  considered 
large  specimens  b}T  our  fishermen.  This  fish  is  most  highh*  es- 
teemed when  in  a  fresh  condition,  and  we  are  not  aware  that  it  goes 
at  all  into  the  market  in  a  pickled  state,  though  great  numbers  are 
"  fletched,"  to  use  a  fisherman's  phrase  ;  that  is,  the  skin  with  a  por- 
tion of  the  flesh  attached,  is  cut  into  strips,  salted,  and  smoked,  and 
in  this  condition,  when  slightly  broiled,  finds  much  favor  as  a  tea 
table  relish.  There  are  large  establishments  in  Gloucester  for  cu- 
ring halibut  in  this  manner,  and  there  is  always  a  demand  for  all 
the}*  can  supply.  The  fins  of  the  fish  are  also  preserved  in  salt  and 
pickle  ;  but  those  who  eat  them  in  this  condition  know  but  little  of 
-.   the  richness  and  delicacy  of  the  fresh  fin. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  halibut  has  ever  been  abundant  near 
the  coast,  though  the  shore  fishermen  of  former  times  occasionally 
found  them  when  fishing  for  cod,  and  were  able  to  furnish  a  limited 
supply  for  home  consumption.  It  was  not  till  the  discoven*  of  the 
great  feeding  ground  of  this  fish,  on  Georges  Bank,  that  the  attention 
of  our  fishermen  was  directed  to  a  special  prosecution  of  this  fishery  ; 
and,  indeed,  not  till  the  opening  of  railroad  communication  with  all 
the  cities  and  principal  towns  in  the  country,  and  the  use  of  ice  ren- 
dered it  possible  to  supply  very  distant  inhabitants  with  this  excel- 
lent article  of  food  in  a  fresh  condition  and  at  a  low  price,  did  any 
considerable  number  of  vessels  engage  in  the  business.    The  Boston 


39 


O.    IF1.   JLTTSTIILT    &o    CO. 

Fishermen's  Bread  and  Crackers. 


Superior  Pilot  Bread, 
Family     do.    do. 
A.  &  B.    do.    do. 
Navy  do. 

Boston  Crackers, 
Butter  do. 
Water  do. 
Comhill  do. 
Kic  ITao  do. 
Pic  Nic  da. 
Sugar  do. 
Assorted    do. 

to. 


^AUSTIN   &_  ^ 


Mmmwm*m2k 


>S.   COMMEP.CI^' 

B  O.ST  ON. 


man 


Soda 

Biscuit, 

Graham 

do. 

Wine 

do. 

Mill 

do. 

Lemon 

do. 

Cream 

do. 

Cocoanut 

do. 

Sharon 

do. 

Tea  k'isod 

do. 

Peoples' 

do. 

Ginger  Snaps, 

Seed  Cakes, 

toy 

The  above  articles  kept  constantly  on  hand  for  sale,  made  from  carefully  selected 
Flour,  and  baked  in  the  most  thorough  manner;  put  up  in  suitable  packages  for  Grocers* 
Hotels,  and  Families. 

SHIP  BREAD  and  CRACKERS  neatly  packed  in  Barrels,  Half-Barrels,  Boxes 
and  Tins,  and  delivered  at  6hort  notice  and  warranted  to  keep  on  long  voyages. 

No.  116  COMMERCIAL  STREET,  BOSTON. 

WHITON,  BROTHER  &  COMPANY, 

AGENTS 

BUi]srGH:A.M  coedage  compy, 

MANILA  ami  TARRED  HEM?  CORDAGE,  Of  EVERY  DESCRIPTION. 
WOODBERRY   MILLS  COTTON  DUCK, 

ALL  WIDTHS  AND  NUMBERS. 

UNITED    STATES   BUNTING   COMPANY, 

BUNTING  ALL  COLORS  AND  WIDTHS. 


IMPOETEES,  -AJSTD  DEALEES  IN- 

Russia,  Manila  and  American  Hemp,  Oakum,  Wire  Rope, 

ANCHORS,    CHAINS, 
RUSSIA  BOLT  ROPE,  &c. 

31  and  33  Commercial  Street,  -         BOSTON. 


40 

market,  in  which,  hitherto,  one  or  two  thousand  pounds  of  halibut 
would  hare  sufficed  for  a  daily  supply,  now  furnished  purchasers  for 
all  that  could  be  brought,  till  the  weather  became  too  warm  for  dis- 
tant transportation ;  and,  when  that  season  arrived,  the  fishermen 
could  sell  at  home,  to  be  smoked  and  dried,  all  that  could  find  no 
sale  in  the  former  place.  It  was  about  1836  that  a  vigorous  prose- 
cution of  this  business  commenced,  and  it  had  risen  to  such  impor- 
tance in  1847,  that  the  Gloucester  vessels  took  in  that  year  consid- 
erably more  than  three  millions  of  pounds,  which  sold  for  something 
over  seventy  thousand  dollars.  Besides  the  Georges  fishery  for 
halibut,  it  has  been  customary,  for  a  few  years  past,  for  the  fishermen 
to  resort  to  the  Grand  Bank,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  trawling  for 
this  fish,  and  in  some  instances  more  than  a  hundred  thousand 
pounds  have  been  brought  home  as  the  result  of  a  few  weeks'  trip. 

On  the  opening  of  railroad  communication  between  Boston  and 
Gloucester,  it  seemed  expedient  and  practicable  to  bring  the  Boston 
and  other  dealers  in  halibut  to  Gloucester  to  purchase  ;  and,  to  carry 
out  this  design,  a  compan}T  was  formed  to  buy  the  fish  of  the  fisher- 
men, and  await  purchasers  from  abroad.  But  the  enterprise,  in  a 
money  point  of  view,  was  a  failure.  The  price  to  be  paid  was  stip- 
ulated for  different  periods  in  advance,  and  it  so  happened  that  it 
was  a  year  (1848)  when  Georges  Bank  }ielded  as  it  never  had  be- 
fore. The  object,  however,  at  which  the  compan}*  aimed,  was  fully 
accomplished,  which  object  was  to  make  our  own  town  the  chief 
market  for  this  fish,  so  that  now,  however  large  the  supply,  local 
dealers  are  ready  to  take  them  on  arrival,  and  furnish  Boston  and 
other  customers  according  to  the  demand. 

Besides  the  fishery  for  halibut,  Georges  Bank  has  also  contributed 
in  another  way  and  to  a  much  greater  extent,  to  the  recent  prosper- 
ity of  Gloucester.  The  great  abundance  in  which  cod  is  sometimes 
found  there  recalls  to  mind  the  "  pestering"  of  Gosnold's  ship  with 
them  off  Cape  Cod,  and  the  "strange  fish-pond,"  where  Capt.  Smith 
found  them  so  plenty,  near  Monhegan.  This  abundance,  and  the 
introduction  of  fresh  herring  from  Newfoundland  to  be  used  for  bait, 
induced  our  fishermen  to  engage  actively  in  a  winter  fishery  on  that 
Bank.  The  success  of  the  trip  depends  mainty  upon  wind  and 
weather.  Sometimes  the  whole  fleet  return  to  port  with  the  loss  of 
cables  and  anchors  and  with  other  damage,  and  without  fish  to  com- 
pensate. Often  better  luck  attends  them,  and  occasionally  a  few 
favorable  trips  in  succession  yield  a  generous  but  still  hardly  ade- 
quate reward  for  the  risk,  labor  and  suffering  of  the  employment. 


41 


To  Wholesale  Dealers  in  Fishing  Tackle, 


We  are  now  prepared  to  promptly  fill 
all  orders  for  Hooks  embraced  in  our  Cat- 
alogue, consisting  of  a  full  line  of 

Limerick,  Ringed  and  Flat. 

Kirby,  "  "        " 

Hollow  Points,  Ringed  and  Flat. 

Kirby  Bass  and  Salmon,  Flat. 

Aberdeen,  Flat. 

Kinsey,  Ringed  and  Flat. 

Carlisle,       "         "         " 

Virginia,  Flat. 

Mackerel,  Flat. 

Blackflsh,      " 

Eel,  Ringed. 

Central  Draught,  Eyed  and  Flat. 

Central  Draught,  Ringed. 

I.  P.  Cod,  Ringed  and  Flat. 

Kirby  Sea,  Ringed  and  Flat. 

Halibut,  Ringed. 

Our  goods  being  made  by  machi- 
nery, are  uniform  in  manufacture 
and  unexcelled  in  temper,  render- 
ing them  superior  to  any  goods 
made,  either  American  or  Foreign. 

The  STANDARD  size  of  NUMBERS  can 
be   relied   upon,    and    packed   full 
count  ONE  HUNDRED  HOOKS  in  each  BOX,  packed  in  fine  order. 

Parties  ordering  our  goods  can  depend  upon  having  their 
orders  promptly  filled  and  at  prices  below  any  other  mak- 
er's, or  any  importer  in  the  country. 

SEND  FOR  CATALOGUE  AND  PRICE  LIST. 

American  Needle  &  Fish  Hook  Co., 

NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. 


42 

In  another  place,  in  these  pages,  interesting  particulars  in  relation 
to  this  fisheiy  may  be  found,  and  among  the  statistics  of  the  busi- 
ness the  mind  will  dwell  with  painful  emotions  upon  the  list  of  those 
who  have  found  in  it  a  watery  grave,  and  also  an  unknown  end ;  for 
no  tidings  ever  come  from  the  missing  Georges  fisherman.  An  un- 
usual absence  gives  rise  to  fearful  apprehensions,  and  anxious 
friends  at  home  watch  from  the  hills  in  agonizing  suspense  for  the 
returning  sail ;  but  nothing  comes  save  the'  moan  of  the  sea  which 
sounds  their  requiem.  None  but  the  stoutest  hearts  will  brave  the 
perils  and  hardships  of  such  an  employment,  or  of  the  dangerous 
trawl-fishing  on  Grand  Bank  ;  and  the  mournful  losses,  with  all 
their  sad  consequences,  constitute  a  serious  drawback  upon  the  oth- 
erwise happy  prosperity  of  the  fisheries  of  Gloucester. 


43 


ANDREWS,  RICH  &  CO., 

WHC 


WHOLES-ALK 


US® 

AND 


COMMISSION  MERCHANTS, 

9  &  11  Commercial  Wharf,  North  Side, 

BOSTON,  MASS. 


LEONARD  WALEN, 


DEALER  IN 


FRESH,  DRUMMED  FiSH, 

Curriers'  &  Cod  Liver  Oil. 

GROCERIES,  OUTFITTING  GOODS,  &c. 

Constantly  on  hand. 
Rocky  Neck,     -     East  Gloucester. 

P.  O.  address,  Gloucester,  Mass. 


HARVEY  KNOWLTON,  JR., 

Wholesale  Dealer  in 

Dry  k  Pickled  Fish, 


SMOKED  HALIBUT, 

Fish  Oils  &  Vessels'  Outfits, 

Rocky  Keck,    -     East  Gloucester. 

P.  O.  address,  Gloucester,  Mass. 


Changes   in  the 
The  Fisheries 


CHAPTER   4. 

Fisheries — Seeking  New 
as  at  Present  Conducted. 


Fishing    Grounds — 


The  fishing  industry  of  Gloucester  is  almost  constantly  under- 
going changes  in  its  character  and  methods.  Within  the  last  thirty- 
five  3'ears  an  almost  entire  revolution  has  been  wrought  in  the  bus- 
iness. In  1841  the  fisheries,  after  a  gradual  decline  for  man}'  3-ears, 
had  about  reached  their  lowest  ebb,  and  from  that  point  the  tenden- 
cy was  in  the  direction  of  expansion.  Since  1847,  notwithstanding 
the  decadence  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  port,  which  at  that 
time  emploj'ed  one  ship  and  nine  brigs,  the  tonnage  of  the  District 
has  increased  from  357  vessels,  of  a  total  of  17,548  tons,  to  503  ves- 
sels, of  a  tonnage  of  30,724  tons  ;  and  the  improved  character  of 
the  vessels  engaged  in  the  fisheries  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  not- 
withstanding the  disappearance  of  the  square-riggers  from  the  dis- 
trict, the  average  tonnage  of  the  fleet  has  increased  from  49  to  61 
tons.  An  average  Gloucester  fishing  schooner  is  now  fully  equal, 
in  eveiy  detail  of  equipment  and  the  qualities  which  give  speed  and 
safety,  to  the  first-class  yachts  that  dance  upon  the  waters  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay  or  Long  Island  Sound ;  while  her  outfits  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  business  contain. every  convenience  which  modern 
ingenuny  can  devise,  and  her  crew  are  supplied  with  all  the  neces- 
sities of  life  and  regaled  on  many  of  the  luxuries  unknown  in  ordi- 
naiy  passenger  transportation  by  sea. 


45 


^ 


ep 


A  handsomely  printed  sheet  of  THIRTY-TWO  COLUMNS,  issued  every 
Friday  Morning,  by 

PROCTER     BROTHERS, 

EDITORS   AND    PROPRIETORS,. 

Gloucester,     -  Mass. 

Each  issue  has  all  the  Local  News  of  Cape  Ann,  together  with  all  the  Fishing  Items,  a 
reliable  Fish  Market,  Good  Story,  and  choice  Miscellaneous  Reading  Matter,  making  it? 
emphatically 

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CIRCULATION,  3.SOO  COPIES.  Terms,  $2.65  per  year,  which  includes  postage 
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Subscribe  for  it  if  you  icish  to  peruse  a  Live  Local  Neicspaper. 


46 

The  great  change  effected  in  the  character  and  methods  of  the 
Gloucester  fisheries,  within  a  comparatively  few  years,  has  been  the 
result  of  numerous  causes.  In  the  early  days  of  the  town  there  was 
little  difficulty  in  securing  good  fares  of  merchantable  fish,  in  pleas- 
ant weather,  at  a  short  distance  from  shore,  and  accordingly  the 
shore  fishery,  with  its  inexpensive  craft  and  outfits,  assumed  lead- 
ing proportions.  As  the  fish  removed  farther  and-  farther  from  the 
shore,  in  consequence  of  the  disappearance  offish  food  in  near  prox- 
imity to  the' coast,  a  better  class  of  vessels  and  longer  vo}-ages  be- 
came a  necessity.  With  this  improvement  in  fishing  craft,  and  in- 
creased expense,  new  fishing  grounds,  and  a  longer  fishing  season, 
became  possible  and  necessary.  The  enterprise  of  Gloucester  fish- 
ermen was  not  long  in  finding  new  resorts  for  their  calling,  and  the 
introduction  of  the  herring  trade,  by  supplying  bait  at  proper  sea- 
sons, gave  an  added  impetus  to  the  business.  The  increased  facili- 
ties for  transportation,  and  the  development  of  the  ice  business,  af- 
fording better  means  of  preserving  and  forwarding  fish  long  distan- 
ces, however,  wrought  the  greatest  revolution  that  these  fisheries 
have  witnessed,  and  placed  Gloucester  in  the  forefront  of  the  fishing 
ports  of  America.  Since  the  opening  of  railroad  communication 
with  Gloucester  in  1846,  but  more  particularly  during  the  past  doz- 
en years,  an  immense  business  has  been  done  in  shipping  fresh  fish 
to  all  parts  of  the  countr}-,  the  orders  being  received  daily  by  tel- 
egraph, and  the  fish  being  iced  and  shipped  direct  to  distant  cus- 
tomers. Another  outgrowth  of  the  increased  facilities  for  transpor- 
tation is  the  direct  shipment  of  cured  fish  to  all  parts  of  the  county, 
a  business  that  has  increased  from  a  modest  beginning  in  1863  to 
huge  dimensions,  until  Gloucester  has  become  the  distributing  head- 
quarters for  its  own  productions,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  for 
those  of  other- fishing  ports.  Several  business  houses  in  this  line 
send  out  trade  circulars  weekly,  and  fill  large  orders  daity  from  a 
long  list  of  correspondents.  A  single  house  in  1874  shipped  nearly 
50,000  quintals  of  codfish,  214  tons  of  codfish  stripped  from  the 
bones  and  skin  and  packed  in  small  compass,  and  over  100  tons  of 
smoked  halibut,  to  its  numerous  customers  in  the  West  and  South. 
It  is  largely  through  the  importance  of  this  branch  of  the  business, 
in  connection  with  the  fresh  fish  trade,  that  the  Gloucester  Branch 
Railroad  has  proved  a  profitable  property  to  a  bankrupt  corporation, 
and  that  a  large  steamer,  making  daily  trips  to  Boston,  and  a  re- 
spectable fleet  of  first-class  freighting  vessels,  plying  between  Glou- 
cester and  New  York,  find  lucrative  employment. 


47 
JOB  JOHNSON.  ESTABLISHED  1813.  ACHIM  JOHNSON. 

30$30HNS0]V&S0^ 

m\  iflfllt  ami  W&&1$ 

COR.  MYRTLE  &  BEDFORD  AVES, 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


Manufacturers  of  Best  Cast  Steel  Wire, 

And    GENERAL   HARDWARE, 

Patent,    and  all   other  descriptions  of  Fish  Hooks,   Needles,   &c. 

Sail  Needles,  Pack  and  Bag  Needles,  Upholsterers'  Needles, 

Mattress  Needles,  Surgeons  Needles,  Spajing  Needles, 

Dissecting  Needles. 

Every  Description  and  Size  of  TORTIONAL  DOOR  SPRINGS. 

PATENT  AUTOMATIC  GATE  HARDWARE. 
JOB    JOHNSON'S 

SPHERICAL  PATENT  UNIVERSAL  BALL  CASTOR 

FOR    FURNITURE. 

FATE  NT  AUTOMATIC  BURGLAR  PROOF  BLIND  and 

SHUTTER  FASTENER;   PATENT  UNIVERSAL 

CLOTHES  LINE  HOLDER. 

All  Descriptions  of  Steel  Wire  Goods,  Machinery,  Springs,  &c.  &c. 

N.  B. — Particular  attention  paid  to  Tempering  and  Finishing  all 
kinds  of  Steel  Wire  Goods. 

Sole  Agents  for  the  Celebrated  Shrimpton  &  Sons  Superior  Sail 
and  other  Needles. 


48 

With  these  advantages,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise  that  the  fish- 
eries of  Gloucester  should  cover  a  wide  range  of  operations,  and 
that  a  large  proportion  of  its  fleet  should  be  engaged  in  some  branch 
of  this  pursuit  during  every  month  of  the  year,  a  fact  that  does  not 
hold  true  of  any  other  New  England  fishing  port.  With  a  business 
capable  of  indefinite  expansion  ;  with  a  fleet  unsurpassed  in  seagoing 
qualities  ;  with  a  maritime  force  of  hardy  men  cradled  on  the  deep 
from  early  youth ;  it  would  be  singular  if  Gloucester  failed  to  turn 
its  attention  in  whatever  direction  fishing  enterprise  held  out  a  pros- 
pect of  successful  operations.  The  successors  of  the  men  who 
braved  the  perils  of  the  sea  in  the  primitive  craft  of  the  earlier  years 
of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  who  were  undaunted  from  pursuing  their 
avocation  by  savage  or  hostile  forces  ere  the  Republic  was  born ; 
are  not  the  men  to  shrink  at  any  hazard  by  storm  or  ice,  and  neg- 
lect opportunities  that  promise  a  successful  issue  in  their  dangerous 
calling.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise,  therefore,  that  in  the  Spring 
of  1860,  after  an  annual  decrease  for  three  years  in  the  mackerel 
catch  of  the  port,  until  the  product  had  been  reduced  nearly  two- 
thirds  in  quantity,  the  project  should  be  seriously  contemplated  of 
embarking  in  the  mackerel  fishery  of  the  North  Sea,  on  the  Norwe- 
gian and  Swedish  coasts,  where  the  prospects  of  successful  fishing 
were  believed  to  be  favorable.  Happil}-,  however,  that  year  saw  a 
revival  of  this  industry-,  the  mackerel  catch  of  1860  being  much 
larger  than  ever  before,  and  the  project  was  abandoned.  Ten  3-ears 
later,  when  the  halibut  fishery  had  assumed  considerable  propor- 
tions, attention  began  to  be  turned  to  new  grounds  for  this  fisher}', 
and  in  1870  an  experimental  trip  was  made  to  the  coast  of  Green- 
land, with  results  which  gave  promise  of  a  successful  pursuit  of  this 
distant  fishery.  During  the  next  two  years  half  a  dozen  vessels 
made  halibut  trips  to  Greenland,  but  in  1873  the  fleet  was  reduced 
to  four  vessels,  whose  voyages  did  not  prove  remunerative,  and  the 
distance  of  the  fishing  grounds,  the  uncertaint}'  attending  the  busi- 
ness, the  high  cost  of  its  prosecution  and  the  dangers  from  storms 
and  icebergs  led  to  its  abandonment.  The  pioneer  in  this  fishery* 
however,  Capt.  John  S.  McQuinn,  was  still  possessed  with  the  pur- 
pose of  finding  new  fishing  grounds,  and  on  the  23d  of  May,  1873r 
with  a  crew  numbering  twenty  men,  he  set  sail  in  the  staunch 
schooner  Membrino  Chief,  for  the  fishing  grounds  on  the  Icelandic 
coast,  where  the  fishermen  of  France  and  Northern  Europe  have 
long  pursued  profitable  ventures.  It  is  probable  that  the  voyage 
was  made  at  an  untoward  season,  since  it  proved  a  failure,  the  ves- 


49 


ADDISON  WITHAM, 

M 


Loft  at  Burnliam  Bro.'s  Railway, 
Water  St.,  GLOUCESTER,  Mass. 


Orders  promptly  attended  to ;  Satisfac- 
tion guaranteed. 

Second-Hand  Rig-g-ing-  Furnished. 


WM.  COOS,  Jr., 

Tarred  and  Repaired. 

NETS,  SEINES,  TWINE  and  FISHING 
NETTINGS,  of  every  description,  furnished 
to  order.       All  Work  Guaranteed. 

SI'HIXG  STREET, 

Near  the  Cape  Ann  Anchor  Works, 

GLOUCESTER,     MASS. 


JONAS  H.  FRENCH,  President.  H.  H.  BENNETT,  Treasurer.  SCOTT  WEBBER,  Supt. 

Cape  Ann  Granite  Co. 

—  FURNISH  — 

<§mnittf  building  nnd  ^onnmmM  ^otkf 

OF  EVERY  DESCRIPTION;    ALSO  DEALERS  IN 

GRANITE    FLAGGING    &    PAVING    BLOCKS, 
Office,  Simmons  Building,  40  Water  St.,  (Room  12,) 

Quarries:  Bay  View,  Gloucester,  Mass.  BOSTON. 


**S 

QO 

GO 

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©        * 
DO         pT 
&         P 

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p.  Pro( 

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BUCK'S  BOOTS. 

JONATHAN  BUCK, 

Manufacturer  of 

Fishermen's  Boots 

OF  VARIOUS  QUALITIES, 

Hand-made  and  warranted  superior  to 
any  other  manufacture. 

Factory  at  Harwich, 

CAPE  COD,      -      -      MASS. 


ADOLPH    VOSS, 

Owner  and  Manufacturer  of 

Voss'  Improved  Bait  Mill, 
Richardson's  Imp.  Bait  Mill, 
'Small's  Patent  Boom  Crotch 
Supporters, 

And  FKSBfll^rt*  KXf  VXS. 

AH  kinds  of  Fisiiixg  Anchors  constant- 
ly on  hand.  Vessel  Work  and  Jobbing  of 
every  description  promptly  attended  to. 

Galvanizing  done  in  all  its  branches. 

Shop  foot  of  Duncan  St.,  near  Rail- 
ways, GLOUCESTER,  Mass. 


50 


sel  being  obliged  to  return  empty,  and  the  experiment  has  not  been 
repeated. 


MODEL  OF  A  HERRING  VESSEL. 

The  Newfoundland  and  New  Brunswick  Herring  Fisheries,  of 
comparatively  recent  origin,  while  not  unattended  with  hardship 
and  danger,  became  at  once  an  important  auxiliary  of  the  Georges 
and  Banks  fisheries,  and  have  been  pursued  unremittingly  from  the 
start.  During  the  present  season  herring  have  been  shipped  hence 
to  Sweden,  at  a  good  profit,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  this  may 
prove  the*  initial  step  toward  the  resumption  of  exportation  offish  to 
foreign  ports,  an  important  industiy  of  the  port  in  the  early  days  of 
its  fishing  enterprise.  The  Spring  of  187G  has  also  been  marked  by 
a  new  feature  in  the  Georges  fishery,  the  capture  of  halibut  in  im- 
mense quantities  in  deep  water  on  the  ^dge  of  the  bank,  good  fares 
having  been  secured  in  a  hundred  and  fifty  fathoms  of  water,  a 
greater  depth  than  was  before  thought  likely  to  furnish  profitable 
returns. 

As  at  present  conducted  the  fisheries  of  Gloucester  furnish  re- 
munerative employment  for  its  vessels  and  mariners  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  year,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  any  considerable  por- 
tion of  its  energies  need  be  turned  to  new  fishing  fields  in  the  years 
to  come. 

With  the  close  of  one  fishing  season  another  is  inaugurated.  On 
the  winding  up  of  the  mackerel  fishery,  and  the  partial  suspension 
of  the  Bank  fisheries  in  the  Fall,  the  better  class  of  vessels  thus  era- 
ployed  commence  fitting  for  the  Herring  Trade,  to  which  the  ener- 


51 


PROCTER   BROTHERS, 

fVMi^er^  kqd   ©ook^eller^. 

HISTORY  OF  GLOUCESTER; 

By  Host.  JOHN  J.  BAUSON.  A  Handsome  Cloth  Bound,  8  mo.  volume  of  610  pages. 
Price  $J.OO. 

FISHERMEN'S  MEMORIAL  AND  RECORD  BOOK ; 

A  complete  History  of  the  Gloucester  Fisheries,  from  1830  to  1873,  giving  a  record  of  the 
vessels  and  men  lost  for  nearly  half  a  century,  thrilling  incidents  accompanying  the  peril- 
ous calling  of  the  fishermen,  interesting  sketches  of  life  on  board  a  fishing  craft,  together 
with  maratime  poetry.    Handsomely  illustrated.    Clotl*  $1.50;  Paper  $1.00. 

FISHERMEN'S  BALLADS  and  SONGS  OF  THE  SEA ; 

A  fine  collection  of  songs,  many  of  them  written  by  these  hardy  toilers  of  the  sea.  Paper 
covers,  handsomely  illustrated."    Price  ftO  cents. 

GLOUCESTER  AND  ROCKPORT  DIRECTORY; 

Price  $1.5©.       Copies  of  the  above  sent  to  any  address,  post  paid,  on  receipt  of  pvice. 

r -/-:::P   A  AtO  *  -:- nil  „-:  lb 


--LBOSTON 


Particular*  attention  paid  to  the  engraving  of 

FISH,  VESSELS,  WHARVES  AI  OTHER  MARITIME  HEWS, 

Many  of  the  Cuts  in  this  Book  were  furnished  by 


F.  A.  McKECHNIE, 


178  CONGRESS  STREET, 

flS-ALL  ORDERS  PROMPTLY  ATTENDED  TO. 


BOSTON. 


52 

gies  of  quite  a  fleet  are  devoted  during  the  winter  months.  A  few- 
vessels  only  engage  in  what  is  known  as  the  salt  herring  trade,  the 
majority  of  the  fleet  securing  their  fares  fresh,  freezing  them  thor- 
oughly and  stowing  them  in  bulk,  allowing  their  cargoes  to  remain 
undisturbed  until  they  are  marketed  in  as  good  order  as  when  taken 
from  the  water.  The  Newfoundland  herring  trade  was  inaugurated 
in  the  winter  of  1856,  and  has  been  pursued  with  varying  success 
since  that  time.  This  fleet  usualty  sails  from  the  middle  to  the  last 
of  November,  with  an  outward  cargo  of  such  supplies  as  are  likely 
to  find  a  quick  demand  among  the  herring  fishers  of  Newfoundland, 
which  are  exchanged  for  the  products  of  the  sea.  The  crews  of  the 
fleet  do  not  engage  in  fishing  to  any  extent,  being  occupied  in  ta- 
king proper  care  of  the  herring  purchased  of  the  local  fishermen. 
Having  secured  a  cargo  they  return  home,  usually  arriving  in  Jan- 
uary and  February,  when  a  portion  of  their  cargoes  find  a  ready  sale 
to  the  Bank  fleet,  for  bait,  the  rest  being  marketed  in  Boston,  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  markets,  for  food,  where  they  are  in  active 
demand,  especially  during  Lent.  The  business  is  an  important  one, 
furnishing  employment  for  the  vessels  and  men  at  a  time  when  they 
might  otherwise  be  compelled  to  lie  idle,  and  providing  the  means 
for  the  early  embarkation  of  the  Georges  and  Bank  fleets  in  the  late 


MODEL  OF  A  GEORGESMAN,  187G. 


Winter  and  early  Spring  months.  The  business  is  also  a  godsend 
to  the  people  of  Newfoundland,  who  are  thus  enabled  to  exchange 
the  products  of  their  Winter  fishery  for  the  necessaries  of  life  on 
much  more  favorable  terms  than  would  otherwise  be  possible.     The 


53 

CALYIN  S.  CROWELL  &  CO., 

COMMISSION  MERCHANTS 


CODFISH,  MACKEREL, 

Salmon,  Shad,  &c. 

No.  124  North  Wharves,  PHILADELPHIA,  Pa. 

References  :— W.  H.  C.  Fisher,  New  York,  Messrs.  Wise  &  Russell,  Boston,  B.  A.  Ba- 
ker, Gloucester,  Messrs.  Geo.  Trefethern  &  Co.,  Portland,  Me. 

G.  &  J.  T.  DONNELL, 

MANUFACTURERS  OF 

^^ZHfef       STANDING  &  EUNNING  EIGGING, 
",^8BHHp^  Fishermen's  Cabfles. 

BOLT-ROPE,  LATHYABN  and  WIRE  ROPE  furnislicd  at  Short  Notice. 

BATH,     MAI3VE. 

CROWELL  i  PATTANGALL, 


—  IN  — 

CODFISH,  MACKEREL,  SALMON,  HERRING,  OILS,  &c, 

-L.-5EpYA"gg;r,!LI-!        No.  39  Water  Street,  NEW  YOBK. 

MUKROE    STE^EISTS, 

^ttMtt*g  and  twmtlUt  at  |fm 

SAWYER  BLOCK, 

Front  Street,     -     Gloucester,  Mass. 

Having  trustworthy  associates  practising  in  the  courts  in  and  near  Boston  can  satis- 
factorily attend  to  all  cases  pending  therein  entrusted  to  his  care. 


54 

New  Brunswick  herring  fishery  is  another  valuable  pursuit,  and  at- 
tended with  much  less  danger  than  the  more  distant  voyages  to 
Newfoundland.  In  the  season  of  1874-5,  twenty- three  schooners 
made  Newfoundland  trips,  and  thirty-three  were  engaged  in  the 
New  Brunswick  fishery. 

Early  in  February,  on  the  arrival  of  their  supply  of  bait,  the 
Georges  fleet  fit  away  for  their  early  trips,  and  the  Grand  and 
Western  Bank  fishery  assumes  more  important  proportions.  The 
cost  of  an  average  Georgesman  fitted  for  sea  is  about  $7,868  ;  this 
includes  the  cost  of  hull,  $5,200,  spars,  $400,  rigging,  $550,  sails, 
$575,  230  fathoms  of  cable,  $450,  3  anchors  weighing  500  lbs.  each, 
$120,  12,000  herring  for  bait,  $150,  dory,  30  tons  of  ballast,  plat- 
forms, ice-houses,  gurry-pens,  lines,  cabin  furniture,  lanterns,  horns, 
compasses,  4  tons  of  ice,  wood,  coal,  water,  etc.  Each  vessel  takes 
a  crew  of  eight  or  ten  men,  and  ordinarily  is  absent  from  two  to 
three  weeks  on  a  trip.  The  fish  are  caught  by  hand  lines,  and  each 
man  keeps  account  of  his  catch  b}T  cutting  out  the  tongues  of  the 
codfish,  which  are  carried  to  the  skipper  for  record  when  the  day's 
work  is  closed,  and  by  marking  the  halibut  caught,  on  the  head  or 
tail.  At  the  end  of  the  voyage  each  man's  halibut  are  identified  and 
weighed  separate^,  and  the  average  weight  or  value  of  the  codfish 
taken  is  ascertained,  and  each  man  credited  with  the  number  caught. 
The  gross  proceeds  of  the  catch  are  subject  to  deductions  for  the 
cost  of  bait  and  ice,  and  one-fourth  of  one  per  cent,  is  reserved  for 
the*  Widows'  and  Orphans'  Fund,  so  that  each  man  engaged  in  the 
business  contributes  something  towards  the  support  of  the  families 
of  those  whose  lives  are  sacrificed  in  this  hazardous  occupation. 
The  net  stock,  or  the  amount  remaining  after  the  above  deductions 
have  been  made,  is  divided  equally,  one-half  to  the  crew,  to  be  dis- 
tributed according  to  their  individual  catch,  subject  however  to  a 
deduction  of  each  man's  share  of  the  "  crew's  expenses,"  consisting 
of  cook's  wages,  water,  medicine  chest  and  milk,  which  expenses. are 
borne  equally  by  the  crew  ;  the  other  half  of  the  net  stock  goes  to 
the  vessel.  The  business  is  at  its  height  in  the  perilous  months  of 
February  and  March,  and  the  hardy  men  who  follow  it  are  called 
upon  to  wrestle  for  their  lives  with  many  a  cruel  storm. 

No  class  of  vessels  are  better  calculated  for  a  battle  with  the 
storm-king,  and  no  braver  souls  tread  the  deck,  but  the  contest  is  an 
unequal  one,  and  many  a  staunch  craft  and  gallant  crew  go  down  in 
the  conflict.  In  a  single  storm,  on  the  night  of  Feb.  24,  1862,  fif- 
teen Gloucester  vessels  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  men  were  lost, 


55 


ID.    J±.    STORY, 


Shipyard  on  Pearce  St.,  GLOUCESTER,  Mass. 

Kelt^m,  |i|^  &  Co.; 

MANUFACTURERS  AND  DEALERS  IN 


137  &  139 

Friend  St., 


AND- 


44  and  4«  CAHTAL  STREET, 

CORNER  OP  MARKET  STREET, 

BOSTON 


56 


leaving  seventy  widows  and  one  hundred  and  forty  fatherless  chil- 
dren to  mourn  for  the  loved  ones  who  would  return  no  more.  Last 
year  two  hundred  vessels  were  engaged  in  the  Georges  fisheiy  at 
some  time  during  the  year ;  a  large  fleet  followed  the  business 
the  greater  part  of  the  year,  and  a  total  of  1348  fares  were  landed 
at  Gloucester. 


ON  GEORUtiS  IX  A  STORM. 

The  Grand  and  Western  Bank  Fishery  is  pursued  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent  during  every  month  in  the  year.  Last  year  this  business 
emplo}~ed  175  vessels,  and  499  fares  were  landed.  The  business 
may. be  classed  in  two  departments,  a  portion  of  the  fleet  making 
short  trips  and  bringing  in  their  fares  fresh,  to  supply  the  fresh  fish 
trade,  and  the  rest  of  the  fleet  making  longer  trips  and  dressing  and 
curing  their  fish  as  they  are  caught.  This  business  employs  the 
best  class  of  fishing  vessels  known  to  the  waters  of  the  coast.  A 
modern  "  banker,"  of  average  tonnage,  costs  about  $8,800.  Such  a 
vessel,  manned  by  a  crew  of  twelve  men  and  making  nine  trips  to 
the  Banks,  being  at  sea  302  days,  will  require  an  expense  of  $1023 
for  trawl  gear,  $1824  for  vessel's  expense,  $1426  for  provisioning, 
and  $1135  for  general  charges,  such  as  ice,  bait,  salt,  etc.  The  man 
who  ventures  on  a  trip  in  a  "  trawler  "  finds  little  of  the  "  pleasing 
content  "  described  by  the  earty  voj-ager.  For  him  at  least  there  is 
little  of  romance  in  "  the  apostles'  own  calling."  Life  on  the  banks 
he  finds  a  constant  round  of  drudgery,  so  long  as  he  is  able  to  make 
his  daily  rounds.    He  must  rise  early  and  work  late  in  order  to  visit 


57 


DAVID  M.  HILTON, 

Teaming  &  Boarding  Stable. 


All  kinds  of  Heavy  and  Light  Trucking  and  Teaming 

Pit  OMP  TL  T  A  TT ENDED  TO, 

Orders  for  Hauling  Fish  or  Ballast  entrusted  to  me 
will  meet  with  prompt  personal  attention. 

MM  DISCHARGED  II  SlIISFltTII  GUAMIM 


OFFICES  : 


Rear  157  Front  Street,  and 
Spring,  cor.  of  Pearce  Street 


}        Gloucester,  Mass. 


58 

his  trawls,  remove  his  fish,  rebait  and  reset  the  lines,  and  take  care 
of  the  day's  catch.  Tossed  on  the  waves  in  his  frail  dory,  at  great- 
er or  less  distance  from  his  vessel,  he  is  subject  to  perils  unknown 
to  the  fisherman  of  the  olden  time.  His  frail  boat  rides  like  a  shell 
upon  the  surface  of  the  sea,  but  in  experienced  hands  no  description 
of  small  sea  craft  is  safer.  Yet  a  moment  of  carelessness  or  inat- 
tention, or  a  slight  miscalculation,  may  cost  him  his  life.  And  a 
greater  foe  than  carelessness  lies  in  wait  for  its  prey.  The  stealthy 
fog  enwraps  him  in  its  folds,  blinds  his  vision,  cuts  off  all  marks  to 
guide  his  course,  and  leaves  him  afloat  on  a  measureless  void.  In- 
stances are  on  record  of  many  a  wearisome  trip,  of  da}s  and  nights 
without  food  or  water,  spent  in  weary  labor  at  the  oars,  at  last  to 
find  succor  from  some  chance  vessel  or  03^  reaching  a  distant  port ; 
and  imagination  revolts  from  the  contemplation  of  the  hardships  ex- 
perienced, the  hopes  awakened  and  dispelled,  and  the  torturing  fate 
of  the  many  "  lost  in  the  fog,"  of  whose  trying  experiences  nothing 
is  ever  known.  The  product  of  this  fishery  is  divided  on  the  same 
plan  as  that  of  the  Georges  fishery. 

•  As  the  Georges  fishery  wanes  in  the  closing  Spring  months,*  the 
sportive  mackerel  puts  in  an  appearance  at  the  far  South,  and  works 
northward  as  the  season  advances.  A  large  portion  of  the  fleet  en- 
gage at  once  in  the  pursuit  of  this  delectable  fish,  and  follow  his  de- 
vious wanderings  until  he  disappears  to  an  unknown  haunt  as  win- 
ter approaches.  The  fleet  fit  awaj-  in  April,  going  as  far  South  as 
Virginia,  but  gradually  working  towards  the  waters  of  Rhode  Island, 
and  marketing  their  catch  for  the  most  part  at  New  York.  During 
the  Summer  months  there  are  two  divisions  of  the  mackerel  fleet, 
one  fishing  off  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  and  the  other 
making  voyages  to  the  Bay  St.  Lawrence.  The  Southern  and  Shore 
fleets  have  practically  abandoned  the  old  st3'le  hook  and  line  fishing, 
and  are  fitted  with  expensive  seines  and  boats  for  the  capture  of 


MODEL  OF  A  SEINE  BOAT. 

mackerel  on  a  wholesale  scale.  The  success  of  this  department  is 
greatly  dependent  on  the  dexterity  with  which  a  school  of  fish  can 
be  surrounded  and  captured,  and  the  employment  is  an  exciting 
one.  The  business  is  an  uncertain  one,  as  the  mackerel  is  a  ca- 
pricious fish,  and  but  little  calculation  can  be  made  of  their  move- 


59 


msii 


ARTISTIC   SERIES. 


Stereoscopic  $iqw$ 

CAPE  ANN  SCENERY 


COMPRISING 


All  the  OBJECTS  OF  INTEREST  which 
abound  in  this  Charming  Retreat! 

OLD  OCEAN, 

with  her  white-winged  fleet  sailing  across  its 
pathless  track; 

The  BEACHES, 

The  RUGGED  COAST, 
The  QUARRIES, 

PUBLIC  BUILDINGS, 
LIGHT-HOUSES, 
and  CHASMS, 

FORMING  A  SERIES  WHICH  DELIGHT  ALL 
WHO  HAVE  SEEN  THEM. 


PB@@WEM  BROTHERS, 

Publishers, 

GLOUCESTER,  (CAPE  ANN,)  MASS. 

SEND    #3.50, 

And   let  them  forward  you  a   Specimen   Dozen. 


The  Fishermen's  Memorial  &  Record  Book 

Gives  you  interesting  facts  relative  to  the  fisheries.  How  fish  are  caught,  and  where  they 
are  caught,  olden  time  and  modern  time  fishing,  Off  Hand  Sketches,  Big  Trips,  Sta- 
tistics OF    THE   KlSHEUIES,  TALES    OF    NARROW  ESCAPES,  FEARFUL    GALES,  MARA- 

time  Poetry,  and  other  matters  of  interest  concerning  this  important  industry.  Verv 
handsomely  illustrated  with  original  engravings.  Price  $1.00  in  Paper  Covers;  $1.50 
finely  bound  in  Cloth.  Sent  anywhere  on  receipt  of  price.  Agents  wanted  to  whom  ex- 
clusive territory  will  be  given.    Liberal  commissions.    Write  for  particulars. 

JPMOCTEB  BROS.,  Publishers, 

Cape  Ann  Advertiser  Office,  -  GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 


60 

ments.  Weeks  ma}'  elapse  without  the  discovery  of  the  fish  school- 
ing on  the  surface  with  the  proper  conditions  for  their  capture.  Im- 
mense hauls,  however,  are  sometimes  made,  more  than  can  be  prop- 
erly dressed  by  the  crew  of  the  "  seiner,"  and  if  no  other  vessel  is  in 
the  vicinity  to  accept  of  a  portion  of  the  catch,  large  quantities  are 
frequently  thrown  away  through  sheer  inability  to  handle  them. 
The  seining  of  mackerel  occasions  a  great  destruction  of  immature 
fish,  unfit  for  use,  but  such  is  the  prolific  character  of  the  mackerel 
that  it  has  never  been  clearly  demonstrated  that  this  method  of  fish- 
ing has  a  tendenc}'  seriously  to  diminish  the  supply.     The  cost  of  a 


MODEL  OF  MACKEREL  CATCHER  OF  1S76. 


mackerel  vessel,  fitted  for  sea,  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  $7700  ;  a 
200  fathom  seine,  of  a  depth  of  30  fathoms,  will  cost  $900  additional, 
and  a  seine  boat  and  dories  &300  more  ;  salt,  bait,  lines,  etc.,  and 
the  necessaiy  provisions  for  a  five  weeks'  trip  make  the  total  cost, 
when  ready  for  a  fishing  voyage,  $9325.  The  Bay  St.  Lawrence 
mackerel  fisheiy,  once  of  considerable  proportions,  has  declined 
largely  of  late  }Tears.  The  seining  of  mackerel  is  found  impracticable 
in  this  fisheiy,  owing  to  the  rocky  bottom  in  the  waters  where  it  is 
followed,  and  the  consequent  destruction  of  seines.  The  number  of 
Gloucester  vessels  finding  employment  in  the  mackerel  fisher}-  in 
1875  was  180.  Of  these,  93  made  Southern  trips,  117  fished  off 
shore,  and  58  visited  the  Bay  St.  Lawrence.  618  fares  were  re- 
ceived, 133  from  the  South,  425  from  off  shore,  and  60  from  the  Bay. 


61 


In  the  mackerel  fishery  each  man  packs  his  own  catch  in  barrels 
provided  for  the  purpose,  putting  a  private  mark  upon  the  head  of 
the  barrel.  On  the  arrival  of  the  vessel  the  catch  of  each  of  the 
crew  is  culled  and  weighed  separately,  and  packed  according  to 
grade,  as  Nos.  1,  2,  3  or  4.  The  whole  trip  is  sold  together  and 
each  man  is  credited  with  one-half  the  value  of  his  individual  catch 
after  deductions  have  been  made  for  his  share  of  the  bait,  preparing 
fuel,  filling  water,  milk,  and  cook's  share  of  the  catch.  The  vessel 
pays  for  one-half  of  the  bait,  and  the  crew's  expenses  are  shared 
equally. 


MODEL  OP  MARKET-BOAT. 

The  only  other  branch  of  the  fisheries  requiring  mention  is  the 
off-shore  fishery  for  codfish,  hake  and  pollock,  although  considerable 
is  done  in  the  menhaden  fishery,  lobster  trapping,  the  clam  fishery, 
and  other  incidental  branches  of  the  business.  The  off-shore  fisher}- 
is  pursued  by  numerous  dories  and  a  small  fleet  of  market  boats, 
from  20  to  50  tons  burthen,  using  trawls  and  dories.  The  business 
is  of  considerable  importance  at  some  seasons  of  the  year,  and  its 
total  product  in  1875  was  $284,000.  In  this  fishery  one-fourth  of 
the  product  goes  to  the  vessel,  and  the  remaining  three-quarters 
goes  to  the  crew,  in  equal  parts,  after  deducting  expenses  of  towage 
and  wharfage.  The  crew  furnish  their  own  fishing  gear  and  provis- 
ions. 

From  the  gross  stock  of  all  fishing  trips  from  Gloucester,  is  de- 
ducted one-quarter  of  one  per  cent.,  wrhich  sums,  with  donations 
from  the  charitable  at  home  and  abroad,  form  a  fund  to  relieve  the 
distress  of  widows  and  orphans,  which  is  constantly  arising  in  con- 
sequence of  the  perils  of  the  fisheries. 


CHAPTER    5. 

The    Fishermen    of   To-Day — Fishing   Incidents — Statistics    of 
Catch — Big  Trips. 

The  extent  and  character  of  the  fisheries  of  Gloucester  attract 
thither  the  fishermen  of  all  countries,  anxious  to  secure  the  advan- 
tages in  the  prosecution  of  their  industry  which  they  cannot  else- 
where obtain.  In  most  parts  of  the  world  fishermen  are  regarded  as 
belonging  to  the  lowest  strata  of  society,  and  the  meagre  returns 
from  their  labors  prevent  their  rising  to  a  higher  plane.  Even  in 
as  enlightened  a  country  as  Canada  it  has  been  possible  for  a  pow- 
erful firm  to  secure  the  control  of  a  large  coast  territory,  restricting 
the  ownership  of  land  to  small  parcels,  inadequate  to  furnish  prof- 
itable agricultural  returns,  compelling  the  inhabitants  to  resort  to 
the  fisheries  for  support.  Obliged  to  purchase  their  provisions  of 
such  firms  at  exorbitant  rates,  and  to  dispose  of  their  fish  to  the 
same  parties  at  whatever  price  they  choose  to  fix,  whole  communi- 
ties are  "  reduced  to  an  undisguised  stage  of  vassalage,  the  want  of 
resources  and  education  affording  them  no  means  of  resisting  this 
oppression,"  says  the  official  report.  The  Gloucester  fisherman,  if 
industrious  and  of  good  habits,  ma}'  support  his  family  in  comfort, 
secure  a  home  of  his  own,  and  the  means  of  engaging  in  business  in 


63 

a  small  way  for  himself,  or  of  smoothing  the  footsteps  of  declining 
3*ears.  His  children  enjoy  the  privileges  of  good  schools,  and  his 
family  are  surrounded  by  all  the  elements  of  civilization  and  refine- 
ment. As  the  oppressed  operatives  of  the  old  world  find  their  op- 
portunity in  the  manufacturing  centres  of  New  England  ;  as  the  ten- 
ants of  the  European  landholder  seek  an  asylum  on  the  fertile  acres 
of  the  West ;  so  the  oppressed  fisherman  of  other  lands  turns  his 
e}re  to  Gloucester  as  his  one  hope  of  escape  from  the  bondage  in 


which  he  is  held.  The  native  born  citizen  makes  but  a  small  ele- 
ment in  the  catalogue  of  the  fisheries.  The  men  who  sailed  the  fleet 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  are  largely  included  in  the  ranks  of  the 
fitters  and  buyers  of  to-day.  Their  early  experience  proves  their 
best  capital  in  conducting  the  business,  and  gives  them  success 
where  others  might  fail. 

To  supply  the  fleet  with  practical  fishermen  large  drafts  are  made 
upon  the  provinces  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  and  every 
spring  sees  hundreds  of  young  men  on  the  way  from  various  ports 


64 

in  those  maritime  countries  to  the  United  States  to  engage  in  the 
Gloucester  fisheries.  The  present  season  three-score  such  were  lost 
by  embarking  in  an  unseaworthy  vessel.  The  Nova  Scotian  is  num- 
bered among  the  best  class  of  our  fishermen.  Bred  to  the  business 
from  early  3*011  th,  discontented  with  the  inferior  craft  and  methods 
of  his  native  land,  ambitious  for  greater  advantages  than  are  afford- 
ed him  at  home,  he  prosecutes  his  calling  with  a  zeal  that  assures 
success.  If  his  habits  are  good  and  he  makes  a  proper  use  of  his 
opportunities,  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  his  rising  to  the  part  own- 
ership and  command  of  the  vessel  in  which  he  sails,  and  many  of  the 
smartest  skippers  of  the  fleet  are  of  Nova  Scotian  birth.  A  consid- 
erable percentage  of  the  fishermen  of  to-day  are  from  the  Western 
Islands,  and  as  a  general  rule  the3r  are  thrifty  and  provident,  and 
seldom  fail  to  become  landholders  after  a  brief  residence  in  this 
county.  There  are  also  maii3*  Swedes,  Norwegians  and  Danes  on 
the  fishing  force,  men  of  character  and  intelligence,  and  often  of  no 
inconsiderable  culture,  proving  a  valuable  element  in  the  communit3'. 

Such  are  the  occupations,  and  such  the  men,  of  the  Gloucester 
fishing  fleet.  The  industry  is  an  important  one,  furnishing  a  food 
suppty  which  the  nation  could  not  well  do  without.  The  field  of  op- 
erations is  an  extensive  and  fruitful  one,  and  it  is  tilled  at  great  cost 
of  vitality  and  sacrifice  of  life.  The  men  who  engage  in  it  do  not 
fail  to  find  a  certain  pleasure  in  the  pursuit,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  an3* 
considerable  number  of  them  could  be  induced  under  any  circum- 
stances to  exchange  it  for  other  occupations  affording  more  certain 
and  profitable  results.  Yet  to  paint  a  life  upon  the  ocean  wave  with 
roseate  hues  would  be  a  false  delineation.  The  fisherman's  lot  is  one 
of  laborious  toil  and  exceeding  hardship,  taken  at  its  best.  A  lot 
crowded  with  incidents,  sometimes  of  a  novel  description,  but  too 
often,  alas  !  of  a  sad  and  heart-rending  character.  A  few  such  inci- 
dents must  suffice  for  these  pages  : 

Dec.  16,  1874,  while  the  schooner  Sultana  was  tying  at  anchor  on 
Grand  Bank,  a  sudden  motion  was  felt  b3*  those  on  board,  and  it 
became  evident  that  the  craft  was  being  carried  through  the  water 
Ivy  some  unseen  and  unknown  power.  Looking  forward,  it  was  ob- 
served that  the  cable  was  drawn  taut,  and  that  some  "  monster  of 
the  deep  "  was  attached  thereto,  and  drawing  the  vessel  along  at  the 
rate  of  twelve  knots  an  hour.  Soon  the3*  obtained  positive  evidence, 
as  a  mammoth  whale  came  to  the  surface  to  blow,  having  the  anchor 
of  the  vessel  hooked  either  into  his  jaw  or  blow-hole.  There  was 
also  another  whale  which  swam  near,  evident^  greatty  astonished  at 


65 


TOWED  BY  A  WHALE. 

the  predicament  of  his  companion.  The  men  on  board  one  of  the 
dories,  which  had  just  returned  from  visiting  their  trawls,  had  barely 
time  to  make  fast  their  painter  ere  the  vessel  started.  Another  do- 
ry, with  two  men,  was  at  some  distance,  also  visiting  their  trawls. 
The  captain  stood  ready  with  axe  in  hand,  in  case  of  emergency,  and 
allowed  the  whale  to  tow  them  some  distance ;  but  not  wishing  to 
lose  sight  of  the  men  in  the  dory,  was  obliged  to  cut  the  cable — 
otherwise  he  might  have  succeeded  in  capturing  the  whale.  The 
above  spirited  picture  gives  a  good  idea  of  the  Sultana  in  tow.  It 
was  drawn  b}T  Rory  McDonald,  steward  of  the  vessel. 

The  schooner  Sarah  C.  P3'le,  Capt.  Richard  Warren,  was  struck  by 
a  cross  sea  and  capsized  Jan.  30,  1870.  The  crew  found  safety  by 
clinging  to  the  sides  of  the  vessel,  until  one  of  their  number  was  able- 
to  cut  away  the  main  shrouds  with  a  pocket-knife,  when  the  vessel 
righted,  nearly  full  of  wTater.  The  foremast  was  cut  away  and  a  jury 
mast  rigged  with  the  foreboom,  and  such  progress  as  was  possible 
was  made  in  a  westerly  direction.  For  eight  days  the  men  were 
obliged  to  cook  their  food  in  sea  water,  their  water  casks  having 
been  lost,  and  to  melt  ice  to  furnish  drink.  At  the  end  of  that  time 
the}'  encountered  a  vessel  and  were  furnished  with  water  and  other 
necessaries.  Five  of  the  crew  were  transferred  to  the  vessel,  but 
the  skipper  and  four  men  remained  on  the  wreck,  determined  to  get 
it  into  port.  In  this  condition  they  encountered  a  terrific  gale,  of 
three  days'  duration,  and  were  blown  off  seawards  a  distance  of  two 
hundred  and  forty-five  miles.     Even  then  they  remained  undaunted 


by  danger  and  firm  in  their  intention  of  rescuing  the  property  under 
their  charge,  and  declined  an  offer  to  be  taken  off.  The  wreck  was 
towed  into  a  New  Jersey  port  Feb.  loth,  two  weeks  after  the  disas- 
ter,— a  fortnight  crowded  with  great  hardship  and  danger  to  the 
men  so  faithful  to  dut}'. 

John  Maynard,  of  New  London,  and  William  Corthell,  of  Lyme, 
Conn.,  of  schooner  Gilson  Carman,  left  that  vessel  on  Georges,  on 
Wednesday,  Mar.  17, 1869,  in  a  dory,  to  haul  their  trawls,  and  while 
doing  so,  a  very  heavy  thunder  squall  sprang  up,  driving  them  from 
the  banks.  They  had  at  the  time  several  halibut  and  from  sixty  to 
seventy  codfish,  which  the}'  had  to  throw  overboard,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one,  which  the}r  retained  to  eat.  After  eating  a  little  it  made 
them  sick,  and  they  were  obliged  to  throw  it  away.  On  Thursday 
night  they  saw  a  vessel,  but  were  unable  to  attract  her  attention ; 
were  drifted  about  all  day  Friday  and  Friday  night,  without  anything 
to  eat.  On  Saturday  morning  a  duck  lit  in  the  vicinity  of  the  boat, 
which  they  managed  to  kill,  and  ate  it  raw.  On  Saturday  night, 
when  they  had  nearly  given  up  the  idea  of  being  saved,  they  made  a 
light  a  few  miles  ahead.  They  immediately  pulled  for  it,  when  it 
proved  to  be  the  schooner  Henry  Clay.  During  the  time  they  were 
in  the  boat  the}'  had  a  steady  storm  of  rain  and  snow,  and  were  fre- 
quently capsized,  but  with  the  aid  of  a  bucket  they  managed  to  keep 
the  boat  clear  of  water.  Corthell  had  his  feet  badly  frozen.  May- 
nard's  arm  was  badly  chafed  and  swollen,  and  both  suffered  greatly. 

Sch.  Neptune's  Bride  was  wrecked  at  Malcomb's  Ledge,  Me.,  Sept. 
22,  1860.  Twelve  of  her  fourteen  men  found  a  watery  grave  by  the 
swamping  of  the  boat  in  which  they  sought  to  reach  the  shore.  One 
other,  Henry  Johnson,  was  enabled  to  regain  the  boat.  She  was  full 
of  water,  but  fortunately  there  was  a  bucket  in  her,  and  a  coil  of  rope. 
With  the  former  he  commenced  bailing,  and  by  dint  of  hard  labor 
managed  to  free  her,  although  she  was  continually  taking  in  water. 
A  hogshead  tub  from  the  vessel  had  drifted  across  the  boat  amid- 
ships. This  he  secured  with  his  rope,  and  that  made  the  boat  ride 
more  easily.  When  he  got  tired  of  bailing  the  boat  he  would  crawl 
into  the  tub,  and  when  that  got  full  of  water  he  would  commence 
bailing  the  boat  again.  He  knew  not  whither  he  was  drifting,  and 
became  so  utterty  exhausted  that,  long  ere  daylight  dawned,  he  fell 
asleep.  At  noon-time  a  Belfast  schooner  sighted  the  craft,  bore 
down  to  her,  and  her  single  passenger  was  received  on  board  and 
kindly  cared  for.  One  other  of  the  crew,  named  Marsh,  secured  a 
resting  place  at  the  foremast-head,  whejre  far  eight  een  hours  he  en- 


67 

dured  greater  agonies  than  death  could  inflict.  The  surging  waters 
reached  to  his  waist,  while  the  pitiless  rain  beat  upon  his  unprotect- 
ed head,  and  the  pangs  of  thirst  and  hunger  clamored  that  he  should 
cease  the  unequal  strife  and  seek  oblivion  in  the  seething  flood.  But 
the  instinct  of  self-preservation  was  strong,  and  he  maintained  his 
position  until  his  feet  were  chafed  and  raw,  and  delirium  set  in.  His 
critical  position  was  at  last  discovered  by  two  fishermen  on  Seal  Isl- 
and, and  he  was  taken  off  and  tenderly  cared  for  until  reason  re- 
sumed its  throne  and  he  was  able  to  take  passage  for  home. 

Subject  to  perils  like  these,  and  hardships  greater  than  pen  can 
describe  or  imagination  conceive,  the  fisherman  plys  his  busy  trade. 
Through  his  labors  mainly  Gloucester  has  grown  from  a  population 
of  6350  and  a  valuation  of  one  million  dollars  in  1840  to  a  present 
population  of  16,754  and  a  valuation  exceeding  nine  millions,  show- 
ing in  the  brief  period  of  thirty-five  years  an  increase  of  264  per 
cent,  in  population,  853  per  cent,  in  valuation,  358  1-2  per  cent, 
in  dwellings,  442  per  cent,  in  wharves,  and  213  per  cent,  in  vessels. 
Through  his  skilled  operations,  and  the  advantages  taken  of  his  la- 
bors, the  fishing  business  of  Gloucester  has  grown  from  an  enter- 
prise of  secondary  importance  to  rank  among  the  valuable  producing 
interests  of  the  country.  Less  than  thirty  years  ago,  in  1847,  the 
total  value  of  the  fishery  products  of  Gloucester  amounted  to  $589,- 
354.    Last  year  the  production  of  the  Gloucester  fleet  was  as  follows  : 


Bank  Codfish,          177,473  qtls., 

$998,628 

PICKLED   FISH. 

Georges  Codfish,      185,758    " 

1,021,669 

31,750  Herring, 

$13,494 

Halibut,  2,462,364  lbs., 

172,365 

163  bbls.  Codfish,  40  1-4  bbls. 

Bank            "        7,248,423    H 

507,389 

Swordfish, 

1,097 

Hake,                          4,257  qtls., 

12,774 

410  5-8  bbls.  Trout,  75  3-4  bbls. 

Cask,                           2,349    " 

7,047 

Fins  and  Napes, 

4,042 

Pollock,                      9,417    " 

32,964 

21  7-8  bbls.  Salmon,  205  bbls. 

Herring,                    38,292  bbls., 

153,168 

Tongues  and  Sounds, 

2,282 

Shore  Fisheries,  ~\     Fresh  Fish, 

89,738 

Shell  Fish,  (Clams,  etc.) 

10,000 

the  work  of     V     Cured    " 

185,697 

All  other  Fish, 

8,000 

dor3r  fishermen,  }     Oil, 

8,945 

Oil,  other  than  above, 

100,000 

Mackerel,    18,172  5-8  bbls.  No.  1, 

327,112 

7,065  1-8    »       "    2, 

184,780 

Total, 

$3,909,500 

21,763          "       "    3, 

174,104 

"            4,039  3-8    "       "    4, 

24,205 

The  business  is  mot  uniformly  successful.  More  largely  than  any 
other  occupation,  probably,  it  is  subject  to  circumstances  over  which 
the  men  engaged  in  it  can  have  but  little  control.  The  best  results 
are  most  likely  to  be  secured  by  the  skipper  who  understands  fully 
the  habits  and  probable  movements  of  the  fish,  and  who  displays  the 


68 

best  judgment  in  conducting  the  voj'age,  but  not  unfrequently  the 
wisest  calculations  fail  to  achieve  success,  and  it  often  happens  that 
one  vessel  will  come  in  with  a  full  load  while  another,  with  apparent- 
ly equal  chances  for  securing  a  fare,  will  be  obliged  to  return  with  a 
meagre  catch. 


The  largest  fare  of  fresh  halibut  ever  landed  at  Gloucester  was 
brought  in  by  schooner  Centennial,  March  30,  1876,  after  an  absence 
in  the  Grand  Bank  fishery  of  onty  three  weeks.  Her  catch  weighed 
off  129,557  pounds.  The  largest  halibut  fare  from  Georges  Bank 
ever  landed  was  65,000  lbs.,  by  sch.  Pioneer,  after  a  three  weeks' 
trip,  the  cook  receiving  $167  and  the  "high  line"  (or  man  making  the 
best  catch)  $181  as  the  result  of  the  trip.  The  largest  codfish  fare 
from  Georges  was  that  of  the  sch.  Samuel  R.  Lane,  in  1875,  weigh- 
ing 123,115  lbs.  The  largest  stock  ever  made  on  a  Georges  trip  was 
$2824.55,  by  the  sch.  Everett  Steele,  in  1865.  The  largest  codfish 
fare  from  the  Banks  was  240,000  lbs.,  by  the  sch.  Grand  Master,  in 
1875.  The  largest  stock  in  this  fishery  was  made  by  sch.  Reunion, 
in  twelve  weeks  in  1868,  her  catch  being  153,044  lbs.  halibut  and  23,- 
875  lbs.  codfish,  netting  $8354.  Sch.  Gertie  E.  Foster  landed  last 
year  668,517  lbs.  halibut,  and  19,220  lbs.  codfish,  stocking  $26,071- 
.56  in  eleven  months  ;  her  master,  Capt.  Edward  Morris,  stocked 
$64,769.78  in  the  years  1873-4-5.  Sch.  Alfred  Walen  made  four 
trips  in  eighty-six  days  last  year,  taking  300,000  lbs.  halibut  and 
stocking  $10,900  in  that  period.  The  highest  price  ever  brought  by 
a  halibut  trip  was  21  cts.  per  lb.  for  white  and.  14  cts.  per  lb.  for 
gray  for  9000  lbs.  brought  in  by  sch.  T.  L.  Mayo. 


CHAPTER  6. 

Shipwrecks  and  Fishing  Losses. — Table  of  Gloucester  Fishing 
Losses  from  1830  to  1876. 

It  might  almost  be  said  that  every  projection  of  land  or  rock 
along  the  rugged  promontory  on  which  the  city  is  seated,  has  its 
direful  tale  of  death  and  disaster  to  relate,  while  not  a  few  take 
their  local  designations  from  sad  scenes  of  shipwreck  of  which  they 
have  been  the  unmoved  witnesses.  From  Norman's  Woe  on  the  ex- 
treme South,  towards  whose  rough  reef  many  a  "  sheeted  ghost " 
has  swept  since  the  disaster  which  tradition  asserts  gave  it  its  name, 
and  whence  between  the  fitful  gusts  may  still  be  heard 

"the  sound  of  the  trampling  surf 
On  the  rocks  and  the  hard  sea  sand ;" 

past  Thacher's  Island,  where  Anthony  Thacher  and  his  good-wife 
were  so  strangety  reunited  on  a  summer  morning  in  1635  ;  to  Gal- 
lop's Folly  on  the  North ;  all  along  the  coast  are  barren  islets  and 
jagged  rocks  with  each  its  separate  tale  of  disaster  to  narrate. 


70 

Sometimes  unnoticed  and  unknown,  often  in  sight  of  anxious 
watchers  impotent  to  help,  not  unfrequently  despite  the  bravest  ef- 
forts for  their  succor,  men  have  gone  down  into  the  jaws  of  death, 
while  the  dashing  waves  have  sung  their  requiem.  In  1796  the  ship 
Industry  of  Boston  was  wrecked  at  Little  Good  Harbor  Beach,  and 
all  her  crew  met  a  watery  grave,  with  none  but  the  all-seeing  eye  to 
witness  their  desperate  struggles  with  the  storm-king.  In  1829  the 
ship  Persia  was  wrecked  on  Eastern  Point,  and  all  her  crew  were 
lost,  while  the  unconscious  town  slept,  nor  dreamed  of  the  dark 
tragedy  enacting  so  near  at  hand.  In  1839  a  score  of  men  were  lost 
in  a  terrible  storm  that  swept  across  the  harbor.  And  oft  has  the 
despairing  mariner,  clinging  to  his  insecure  foothold  on  stranded 
wreck,  been  snatched  from  the  yawning  gulf  that  waited  to  cover 
him,  by  the  efforts  of  brave  men  willing  to  risk  their  lives  for  his 
succor. 


**r, 


Of  late  years  the  improvements  in  marine  architecture  and  equip- 
ment have  rendered  disasters  less  frequent,  and  the  additional  facil- 
ities for  saving  life,  furnished  mainly  b}T  the  Massachusetts  Humane 
Society,  have  greatly  lessened  the  perils  of  mariners  exposed  to  the 
dangers  of  a  lee  shore.  To-day  coastwise  navigation  is  compara- 
tively free  from  danger,  if  duly  heeding  the  warning  beacons  of  the 
Signal  Service  Corps,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  maritime  ports 


71 

may  never  again  witness  the  wholesale  destruction  of  life  which  they 
have  so  often  seen  in  the  years  that  are  past. 

And  while  the  loss  of  stranger  crews  upon  her  shores  has  so  often 
awakened  sympathy  and  regret,  Gloucester  has  constantly  been  call- 
ed upon  to  mourn  her  own  sons  who  have  gone  down  at  sea.  The 
ambition  of  her  3-outh  has  not  been  circumscribed  by  the  narrow 
confines  of  her  fishing  ventures  or  local  commerce.  Gloucester  men 
have  sailed  all  seas,  and  their  bones  have  whitened  beneath  the  wa- 
ters of  both  hemispheres.  Many  a  sailor  and  officer  and  ship-master 
has  graduated  from  her  fishing  craft  from  earlier  to  latest  da3*s,  and 
many  a  home  has  been  darkened  by  the  loss  of  husband  or  father  or 
brother  upon  some  distant  voyage.  Whole  families  of  sons,  taking 
to  the  sea  one  after  another,  have  perished  thus.  The  dark  days  of 
the  Revolution,  brightened  by  the  loyalty  of  Gloucester  sailors  and 
fishers,  took  on  more  sombre  guise  from  the  sad  fate  of  many  of  the 
number.  Sixt}'  wives  were  made  widows  and  scores  of  children  fath- 
erless, by  the  loss  of  the  privateer  ship  Gloucester  in  1777.  The 
Cumberland  carried  down  many  of  "the  flower  of  the  town"  in 
1778,  and  a  large  number  were  lost  in  the  Tempest  in  1782. 

The  history  of  the  Gloucester  fisheries  has  been  written  in  tears. 
No  other  industry  by  sea  or  land,  sustains  such  a  drain  upon  its  re- 
sources and  employes.  Other  callings  may  shorten  life,  but  none 
show  such  constant  and  wholesale  destruction.  The  men  who  go 
out  upon  the  Banks  take  their  lives  in  their  hands  as  surely  as  he 
who  goes  into  battle  ;  nay,  the  proportion  of  fatal  casualties  upon 
the  battle-field  is  much  smaller  than  in  this  perilous  calling.  The 
growing  importance  of  the  business  has  not  been  accompanied  by 
greater  exemption  from  disaster  and  death.  In  the  last  46  years 
the  aggregate  fishing  losses  of  Gloucester  have  amounted  to  333  ves- 
sels, of  a  value  of  $1,361,300,  and  1590  lives,  or  an  average  annual 
loss  of  7  vessels,  valued  at  $27,420,  and  35  lives.  For  the  past 
five  years  the  average  annual  loss  has  been  18  vessels,  $81,860,  and 
114  lives.  And  these  figures,  so  far  as  loss  of  property  is  concern- 
ed, represent  only  the  total  losses  of  Gloucester  vessels,  and  would 
be  largely  augmented  if  we  added  the  losses  of  cables  and  anchors 
and  spars,  the  damages  by  collision  and  stranding,  and  other  disas- 
ters resulting  only  in  a  partial  loss. 

Think  of  a  business  in  which,  outside  of  ordinary  depreciation  of 
wear  and  tear,  and  added  to  all  other  expenses  and  out-goes,  one- 
fiftieth  of  its  capital  and  three  per  cent,  of  its  employes  are  swept 
away  annually  by  disaster.     In  May,  1875,  sixty  persons  lost  their 


72 

lives  by  the  burning  of  a  church  in  South  Holyoke,  Mass.  A  month 
later  the  floods  in  the  valley  of  the  Garonne,  in  France,  swept  away 
fifteen  million  dollars  of  property  and  many  lives.  In  1874  twenty- 
three  lives  were  lost  in  a  burning  mill  at  Fall  River,  Mass.  The 
Revere  Railroad  disaster  in  1871  resulted  in  the  loss  of  twenty-nine 
lives,  and  the  bruising  and  scalding  of  many  others.  The  Mill  River 
(Mass.)  flood  of  1874  swept  away  one  hundred  and  forty  lives  and 
much  valuable  property.  The  history  of  these  and  many  other  dis- 
asters of  like  character  has  been  scattered  broadcast  by  the  fleet- 
winged  press,  and  awakened  the  sympathies  of  the  world.  But  con- 
sidering the  extent  of  country  and  valuation  drawn  from,  these  loss- 
es dwindle  to  modest  dimensions  compared  with  the  fishing  losses  of 
Gloucester.  In  a  single  }*ear  (1873)  thirty-one  of  her  vessels  sailed 
to  return  no  more,  and  174  of  her  fishermen  were  laid  in  an  ocean 
grave.  In  a  single  storm,  "  The  Lord's  Day  Gale  "  of  August  24  of 
that  year,  nine  Gloucester  vessels  went  down  before  the  dreadful 
blast,  and  128  Gloucester  mariners  met  their  doom. 

On  the  next  page  will  be  found  a  table  showing  the  loss  of  life 
and  property  annually  in  the  Gloucester  Fisheries  since  1830. 


73 


TABLE  OF  LOSSES. 


Year. 

Men. 

Vessels. 

Valuation. 

Insurance. 

1830 

7 

3 

$5,600 

$3,100 

1832 

1 

1,000 

1833 

1 

1,000 

1834 

4 

1 

1,500 

1836 

1 

1,000 

1837 

24 

5 

10,100 

5,300 

1838 

4 

4 

7,100 

3,000 

1839 

4 

2 

3,800 

3,150 

1840 

6 

2 

3,800 

1,400 

1841 

8 

2 

2,725 

150 

1842 

3 

2,000 

150 

1843 

10 

3 

6,000 

2,000 

1844 

7 

3 

4,800 

1,500 

1845 

7 

4 

4,500 

2,350 

1846 

15 

3 

4,900 

3,600 

1847 

3 

6,200 

4,450 

1849 

10 

2 

3,500 

2,200 

1850 

40 

12 

15,500 

12,900 

1851 

32 

9 

17,300 

14,800 

1852 

32 

13 

41,800 

36,700 

1853 

3 

10,000 

8,800 

1854 

26 

4 

14,600 

12,650 

1855 

21 

7 

20,900 

16,100 

1856 

2 

6 

14,400 

11,475 

1857 

9 

5 

11,500 

7,750 

1858 

42 

7 

18,700 

8,537 

1859 

36 

6 

21,900 

16,475 

1860 

73 

7 

26,350 

20,494 

1861 

44 

15 

54,250 

43,880 

1862 

162 

19 

66,500 

53,225 

1863 

6 

9 

38,000 

8,300 

1864 

85 

13 

79,900 

50,525 

1865 

11 

8 

40,300 

32,400 

1866 

26 

15 

114,250 

82,095 

1867 

66 

11 

82,675 

59,069 

1868 

40 

4 

35,000 

28,150 

1869 

66 

16 

83,450 

54,137 

1870 

97 

13 

75,200 

59,907 

1871 

140 

19 

89,000 

77,259 

1872 

63 

12 

55,400 

49,121 

1873 

174 

31 

118,700 

100,918 

1874 

68 

10 

49,100 

44,975 

1875 

123 

16 

97,100 

81,726 

Total, 

1590 

333 

$1,361,300 

$1,024,718 

CHAPTER    7. 
Commerce  of  Gloucester. 

While  Gloucester  at  the  present  time  is  undoubtedly  the  largest 
seat  of  the  fisheries  in  the  world,  it  has  not  always  occupied  that 
leading  position  in  the  United  States.  Marblehead  was  for  many 
years  her  competitor  and  greatty  her  superior.  Fifty  or  sixty  years 
ago  the  fisheries  was  not  the  leading  pursuit  of  Gloucester.  No 
doubt,  years  before,  the  fisheries  exceeded  the  foreign  commerce  in 
importance,  but  from  1783  to  1845  the  fishing  business  had  declined 
from  its  former  importance,  and  the  Bank  fishery,  once  so  important, 
had  almost  faded  out  of  existence,  so  much  so  that  some  years  less 
than  half  a  dozen  vessels  were  engaged  in  this  fishery. 

But  until  1860  Gloucester  was  largely  engaged  in  foreign  com- 
merce. It  had  two  or  three  large  mercantile  houses,  and  ships, 
barques,  brigs  and  schooners  running  to  the  East  Indies,  South 
America,  Europe,  Dutch  Guinea  and  the  West  Indies.  The  harbor 
of  Gloucester  has  seen  the  arrivals  from  every  part  of  the  globe, 
and  its  wharves  and  storehouses  have  held  the  products  of  every 
clime  upon  the  earth.  But  its  commercial  interests  aside  from  the 
West  Indies  (a  trade  in  which  for  many  years  it  had  a  large  share) 
was  from  1810  to  1860,  a  period  of  fifty  years,  mainly  directed  to 
Paramaribo  or  Surinam  in  Dutch  Guinea.  In  various  portions  of 
this  period  it  had  nearly  the  whole  American  trade  to  that  port. 
Its  importations  of  sugar,  molasses  and  cocoa  were  some  years  near- 
ly four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  its  exports  two  hundred  thous- 
and. About  1860  this  trade  was  transferred  to  Boston,  and  since 
that  period  the  foreign  commerce  of  Gloucester  has  declined. 

But  two  or  three  new  branches  of  commerce  arose  to  take  the 
place  of  this  Surinam  business.     Among  these  are  the  Nova  Scotia, 


75 

Newfoundland  and  Salt  trades.  The  latter  business  has  attained 
great  proportions,  and  this  ancient  port  shows  more  than  ever  the 
presence  of  great  ships  and  barques,  sometimes  as  many  as  six  be- 
ing in  port  at  one  time.  Besides  this  important  business  Glouces- 
ter carries  on  quite  a  large  business  with  the  British  Provinces,  and 
its  importation  of  codfish,  herring,  wood  and  lumber  are  very  impor- 
tant. These  branches  of  business  are  likely  to  increase  in  the  fu- 
ture, (especially  the  salt  trade),  and  this  ancient  seaport  may  yet 
show  a  greater  amount  of  foreign  shipping  at  its  wharves  than  it  did 
in  ancient  times. 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  statements  that  not  only  as  a  fishing 
port  has  Gloucester  been  celebrated,  but  as  a  seat  of  foreign  com- 
merce it  has  occupied  a  very  respectable  position.  But  Boston  grad- 
ually attracted  the  business  of  all  the  lesser  ports  such  as  Salem, 
Newburyport  and  Gloucester,  and  now  it  looks  almost  as  if  the  trade 
of  Boston  itself  was  to  be  swallowed  up  by  New  York,  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore,  who  govern  exports  to  Boston. 

The  total  value  of  the  imports  into  the  District  of  Gloucester  for 
1875  was  $107,610,  as  follows :  salt,  $65,531  ;  codfish,  $23,100  ; 
fresh  herring, '$6,833  ;  salt  do.,  $1300;  firewood,  $6575  ;  potatoes, 
$2008  ;  cigars,  $746  ;  coal,  $620  ;  fish  oil,  $350  ;  eggs,  $169  ;  other 
fish,  $174  ;  miscellaneous,  $204. 

At  an  earlier  period  of  the  fisheries,  the  vessels  fitted  for  the 
Banks,  then  took  their  fares  to  Spain,  bringing  return  cargoes  of 
salt,  &c.  Since  that  time  there  were  no  direct  importations  of  any 
note  until  the  receipt  of  a  ship  load  June  1, 1861,  followed  by  anoth- 
er ship  load  June  5th  of  the  same  year,  both  from  Liverpool,  Eng. 
These  cargoes  amounted  to  8507  hogsheads,  of  an  invoiced  value  of 
$4905.  In  1870,  20,136  2-3  hhds.  of  Liverpool  salt,  valued  at  $8673, 
and  24,879  1-2  hhds.  oi' Cadiz  salt,  valued  at  $13,910,  were  import- 
ed in  seven  brigs  and  ten  barks.  In  1875  the  importations  were  74,- 
032  hhds.  from  Cadiz,  20,480  hhds.  from  Liverpool,  10,966  hhds. 
from  Trapani,  and  3,008  hhds.  from  Turk's  Island.  Total  importa- 
tions, 108,486  hhds.  in  2  ships,  12  barks,  12  brigs,  and  16  three- 
masted  schooners.  Of  these  42  vessels,  34  were  under  the  American, 
5  under  the  English,  and  3  under  the  Austrian  flag.  The  amount  of 
salt  used  in  the  curing  of  fish  was  106,245  hhds. 


CHAPTER   8. 
The  Granite  Industry  .of  Cape  Ann. 

While  the  fisheries  furnish  an  exhaustless  field  for  enterprise,  Cape 
Ann  has  yet  another  branch  of  productive  industry  in  which  the  most 
active  operations  make  but  small  apparent  climunition  of  the  supply. 
Her  hills  and  fields  are  marked  by  the  outcroppings  of  the  huge  ledges 
which  underlie  them,  mines  of  wealth  as  truly  as  those  of  Ophir, 
whose  products  have  been  freely  yielded  for  the  construction  and  or- 
namentation of  the  temples  of  the  nineteenth  centur}T.  Her  rocks 
are  granite,  of  a  beautiful,  dark  color,  easily  wrought  into  an}r  desi- 
rable shape,  and  susceptible  of  a  high  polish. 

From  the  earliest  times  the  rocks  of  the  Cape  were  made  to  serve 
the  necessities  of  the  inhabitants,  in  the  construction  of  their  build- 
ings and  fences,  but  their  merchantable  value  was  a  thing  of  slow 
growth.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  fishing  business  in  the  last  century, 
and  the  lack  of  harbor  accommodations  on  the  North  side  of  the 
Cape,  opened  a  new  use  for  this  abundant  material,  in  the  mooring 
of  the  diminutive  craft  of  those  days  off  shore.  Flat  blocks  of  gran- 
ite, about  six  feet  square,  and  from  ten  to  fifteen  inches  in  thickness, 
were  prepared  by  cutting  a  hole  fifteen  inches  in  diameter  in  the  cen- 
tre, into  which  an  oak  butt,  having  the  roots  attached,  was  inserted. 
The  stone  and  spar  were  then  dropped  at  a  proper  distance  from  the 
shore,  and  used  for  the  securing  of  fishing  craft,  affording  a  safe 
mooring  except  in  heavy  easterly  gales,  when  it  was  found  necessary 


77 

to  secure  greater  protection  by  seeking  a  harbor  elsewhere.  It 
was  not  until  1824,  however,  that  the  business  of  working  stone 
for  shipment  reached  any  considerable  importance.  In  that  year  a 
Mr.  Bates  of  Quincy  came  to  Sandy  Bay  and  leased  a  ledge,  inaug- 
urating an  industry  that  soon  had  a  rapid  growth,  and  became  the 
second  business  in  importance  on  the  Cape.  Not  long  after  quarries 
were  opened  at  Annisquam,  where  an  extensive  business  was  carried 
on  for  many  years,  furnishing  stone  for  the  fortifications  erected  in 
Boston  harbor,  and  for  wharf  and  building  purposes.  These  quar- 
ries were  long  since  abandoned,  and  the  business  is  not  followed  to 
any  considerable  extent  at  this  point. 

The  flourishing  granite  industry  at  Pigeon  Cove,  now  embraced 
within  the  lines  of  Rockport,  had  its  origin  in  1827,  when  Messrs. 
Ezra  Eames  and  Beniah  Colburn  opened  a  quany  there,  b}T  the  sea- 
side, and  soon  found  a  ready  market  for  their  products  for  building 
and  cemetery  purposes.  Their  first  3-ear's  business  is  said  to  have 
resulted  in  a  net  loss  of  fifteen  dollars,  but  the  government  became 
their  patron,  and  a  profitable  industry  was  soon  developed.  Their 
first  quarry  was  abandoned  when  it  reached  the  level  of  the  sea,  but 
new  ledges  were  opened,  and  changes  made  in  the  firm  from  time  to 
time,  until  it  developed  into  a  wealthy  corporation,  under  the  name 
of  the  Rockport  Granite  Company,  who  now  own  a  valuable  proper- 
ty and  conduct  an  extensive  business.  The  Pigeon  Hill  Granite 
Company  also  have  an  extensive  trade,  and  was  the  first  in  Rock- 
port to  build  a  railroad  from  the  quarry  to  its  wharves  to  facilitate 
the  transportation  of  rough  stone  for  dressing  and  shipment. 

The  extensive  granite  industry  at  Bay  View  is  the  outgrowth  of  a 
modest  beginning  in  1848,  when  a  quarry  was  opened  to  supply  the 
stone  for  building  a  bridge  across  Hodgkins  Cove.  The  first  stone 
shipped  from  this  point  was  in  1849,  but  no  considerable  business 
was  done  in  this  line  until  1853,  when  Mr.  Beniah  Colburn  and  Mr. 
William  Torrey  purchased  the  quarries  and  commenced  active  oper- 
ations, which  were  continued,  under  various  firms,  for  a  dozen  years. 
These  quarries  were  not  worked  to  any  extent  from  1865  until  1869, 
when,  on  the  suggestion  of  General  Butler,  who  had  erected  a  sum- 
mer seat  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  that  it  was  too  valuable  a  prop- 
erty to  lie  idle,  it  was  purchased  by  Col.  Jonas  H.  French  and  oth- 
ers, and  a  corporation  organized,  with  a  working  capital  of  about 
$125,000,  to  conduct  the  business,  under  the  name  of  Cape  Ann 
Granite  Company.  Since  the  latter  date  an  extensive  business  has 
been  carried  on,  large  additions  having  been  made  to  the  landed 


78 

possessions  of  the  corporation,  and  great  improvements  made  in  the- 
property.  A  railroad  has  been  constructed,  on  which  a  locomotive 
and  eighteen  platform  cars  are  employed  in  the  transportation  of 
stone  from  the  quarries  to  the  wharves,  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a 
quarter ;  the  wharves  have  been  extended  and  the  harbor  protected, 
and  the  population  and  property  of  the  village  more  than  doubled. 
The  securing  of  the  contract  to  furnish  stone  for  the  new  Boston 
Post  Office  gave  an  impetus  to  this  company  which  at  once  placed  it 
in  the  front  rank  in  the  granite  industry  of  the  old  Bay  State.  The 
largest  granite  blocks  ever  quarried  in  this  country  were  furnished 
b}r  this  company,  for  the  Scott  Monument  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
one  of  the  blocks,  for  the  foundation,  being  twenty-eight  feet  two 
inches  long,  by  eighteen  feet  eight  inches  wide,  and  three  feet  two 
and  three-eighths  high,  weighing  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty-one 
tons.  The  company  employ  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  men,  and 
use  four  steam  engines  for  hoisting  and  drilling  purposes. 

The  stone  business  at  Lanesville  antedates  the  operations  at  Bay 
View,  and  is  still  carried  on  on  an  extensive  scale.  The  changes  in 
the  management  of  this  business  at  this  village  have  been  numerous 
within  the  past  quarter  of  a  century.  There  are  now  three  firms  en- 
gaged in  it,  the  Lanesville  Granite  Company,  the  Bay  State  Granite 
Company,  and  Messrs.  George  Barker  &  Co.,  the  latter  being  a 
branch  of  a  firm  also  doing  business  at  Quincy.  These  companies 
represent  a  capital  of  about  $110,000. 

The  only  other  part  of  the  Cape  where  the  business  is  carried  on 
to  any  considerable  extent  is  at  West  Gloucester,  where  the  quarry- 
ing of  stone  was  commenced  b}r  the  Gloucester  Granite  Company,  a 
corporation  with  a  handsome  capital,  which  was  exhausted  in  the- 
heavy  outlays  required  in  the  construction  of  a  wharf,  railway  and 
buildings,  and  in  working  the  surface  drift  and  developing  the  value 
of  the  quarry.  This  propertj^  has  since  passed  into  the  hands  of 
other  parties,  who  are  building  up  a  successful  and  profitable  trade- 

The  granite  business  combines  with  the  fisheries  in  attracting  set- 
tlers from  abroad,  the  number  of  native-born  citizens  engaged  in 
either  being  but  a  small  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  emplo3Ted. 
The  two  branches  of  industry  however  serve  to  attract  totally  differ- 
ent classes  of  residents,  the  fishing  business  drawing  its  workmen 
principally  from  Maine,  the  British  Provinces  and  the  Western  Isl- 
ands, while  the  granite  industry  brings  its  quanymen  from  "the 
Gem  of  the  Sea,"  its  teamsters  from  the  Granite  State,  and  its 
skilled  hammerers  from  the  heather  hills  of  Scotland. 


CHAPTER    9. 

;  Summer  Attractions  of  Cape  Ann. 

Of  the  sea-side  places  of  summer  sojournings  and  recreation  on 
our  Atlantic  coast,  from  Eastport  to  Cape  May,  including  Mt.  Des- 
ert, Old  Orchard  Beach,  Hampton  Beach,  Newport,  Long  Branch, 
and  Atlantic  City,  none  equal  in  all  particulars  united,  the  promon- 
tory on  which  are  located  the  city  and  parishes  of  Gloucester,  and 
the  villages  of  Rockport  and  Pigeon  Cove. 

As  to  altitude  Mt.  Desert  is  pre-eminent ;  but  the  general  eleva- 
tion of  Cape  Ann,  presented  in  hundreds  of  hills,  ledges,  bluffs,  and 
precipices,  and  in  huge  castellated  and  rounded  rocks,  is  sufficient 
for  broad  and  various  views.  Besides,  from  the  top  of  Thompson's 
Mountain,  in  the  West  Parish  of  Gloucester,  may  be  seen,  on  any 
fair  day,  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  and  the  domes  of  Wachusett,  Mon- 
adnock,  Gunstock  and  Agamenticus.  From  Meeting-house  Hill,  in 
the  same  parish,  Butler's  Hill  at  Annisquam,  Pigeon  Hill,  Pool's  Hill 
and  Great  Hill,  at  Pigeon  Cove  and  Rockport,  and  Lookout  Hill  and 
Governor's  Hill  at  Gloucester  Harbor,  the  vision  takes  in  more  or 
less  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Cape  ;   and  on 


80 

the  north  side,  Ipswich  Bay  and  the  line  of  coast,  backed  by  the 
nearer  hills  and  towns  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  ex- 
tending from  Essex,  Ipswich  and  Newburyport,  far  northeastward  to 
the  hills  below  Agamenticus  and  the  ancient  town  of  York,  in  Maine. 
It  will  be  observed,  of  course,  that  within  this  compass  of  the  eye, 
something  more  than  a  score  of  miles  from  the  northern  shore  of  the 
Cape,  lie  the  Isles  of  Shoals. 

As  to  stretch  of  sand,  Old  Orchard  Beach  is  a  marvel,  but  Little 
Good  Harbor  Beach  and  Long  Beach,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Cape, 
near  the  boundary  between  Gloucester  and  Rockport,  and  Coffin's 
Beach  on  the  Ipswich  Bay  border  of  the  West  Parish  of  Gloucester, 
are  more  than  satisfactory,  as  hard,  smooth  floors  for  the  wheels  of 
carriages  or  the  feet  of  pedestrians ;  or  for  the  accommodation  of 
picnics  and  bathing  parties  ;  especially  since  they  are  placed  in  con- 
trast with  granite  boulders  and  ledges,  and  with  pastures  of  sweet 
herbage,  bayberry  and  wild-rose  bushes,  close  by  them,  and  with 
rugged  hills  but  a  little  farther  off. 

As  an  area  for  sea-side  rest  and  pleasure  and  for  country  shade 
and  enjo3'ment,  at  the  same  time,  Cape  Ann  is  incomparable.  Here, 
the  tourists,  the  summer  cottages,  and  the  visitors  occupying  the  ho- 
tels, are  delighted  with  the  remarkable  blending  of  the  marine  with 
the  rural.  If  the}'  would  sail,  there  are  harbors  all  around  the  in- 
dented shore,  from  any  one  of  which  they  may  go  forth  upon  the  sea 
within  sight  of  pleasant  cities  and  villages,  picturesque  heights  and 
intervening  vales,  with  wood  and  orchard  and  field.  From  the  har- 
bor of  Gloucester  city,  Fresh  Water  Cove,  or  Magnolia,  the  trip  may 
be  to  Salem,  Baker's  Island,  Manchester,  Lowell  Island,  Marblehead, 
or,  b}7  rounding  Eastern  Point,  to  Thacher's  Island.  From  Rock- 
port,  Pigeon  Cove,  Foil}7  Cove,  Lanesville,  Bay  View  or  Annisquam, 
it  may  be  to  Chebacco  River,  Ipswich  River,  Plum  Island,  Newbmy- 
port,  Boar's  Head,  Portsmouth,  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  or,  by  doubling 
the  southern  horn  of  the  Cape  and  Straitsmouth  Island,  to  Glouces- 
ter Harbor ;  or,  by  the  way  of  'Squam  River  and  the  Cut,  to  Glou- 
cester Harbor  and  Massachusetts  Bay.  If  they  would  ride,  from 
whatever  starting  place,  the  most  popular  route  is  the  "  road  'round 
the  Cape."  On  almost  every  rod  of  this  highway  of  fifteen  miles, 
the  waves  of  ocean,  bay,  or  inlet,  are  within  sight. 

Branching  from  this  principal  road  are  other  roads  extending  to  or 
passing  through  villages  or  sequestered  neighborhoods  near  the  sea, 
or  near  the  coves  here  and  there.  The  ride  may  be  varied  from  day 
to  day  by  turning  into  these  by-waj-s,  and  so  driving  to  Bass  Rocks, 


81 


GLOUCESTER,  MASS. 

Delightfully  situated  iu  the  centre  of  Pavilion  Beach  where  a  full  view  of  Gloucester 
Harbor  is  obtained,  forming  one  of  the  coolest  retreats  upon  the  coast.  Every  facility 
for  boating,  Ashing,  rifling,  bathing,  etc.  Charming  scenery  on  every  hand.  Good  Liv- 
ery stable  in  the  vicinity,  and  every  attention  paid  to  the  comfort  of  guests. 

For  terms,  etc.,  address, 

G.  8.  SEAVEY,  Proprietor. 




& 

Patentees  and  Manu- 
facturers of 

ROWLOCKS. 


Send  for  Prices  &  Discounts. 


Fishing-  Establishments  in  Gloucester. 

The  Centennial  Year,  18 

76,  finds  thirty-eight  fishing  firms  and 

es- 

tablishments  in  Gloucester  Harbor,  owning  and  fitting  out  361  ves- 

sels, as  follows : 

D.  C.  &  H.  Babson, 

12 

Wm.  Parsons,  2d,  &  Co., 

13 

Clark  &  Somes, 

11 

Perkins  Bros., 

10 

George  Dennis.  &  Co., 

fi 

Pettingell  &  Cunningham, 

5 

Cunningham  &  Thompson, 

9 

John  Pew  &  Son, 

20 

Dennis  &  Ayer, 

15 

Procter,  Trask  &  Co., 

4 

Joseph  Friend, 

7 

Joseph  0.  Procter, 

13 

Sidney  Friend  &  Bro., 

14 

Rovve  &  Jordan, 

12 

George  Garland, 

7 

Say  ward  Bros., 

5 

Benj.  Haskell  &  Sons, 

3 

Daniel  Sa*yward, 

5 

Samuel  Haskell, 

5 

Shute  &  Merchant, 

13 

Harvey  Knowlton,  Jr., 

3 

Smith  &  Oakes, 

7 

Samuel  Lane  &  Bro., 

8 

Smith  &  Gott, 

17 

Leighton  &  Co., 

20 

James  A.  Stetson, 

2 

David  Low  &  Co., 

13 

George  Steele, 

11 

Maddocks  &  Co., 

10 

James  G.  Tarr  &  Bro., 

16 

James  Mansfield  &  Sons, 

10 

Walen  &  Allen, 

14 

McKenzic,  Hardy  &  Co., 

7 

Leonard  Walen, 

4 

George  Norwood  &  Son, 

8 

John  F.  Wonson  &  Co., 

12 

Charles  Parkhurst, 

5 

William  C.  Wonson, 

5 

82 

Eastern  Point,  Little  Good  Harbor  Beach,  Fresh  Water  Cove,  Mag- 
nolia, Meeting-house  Hill,  Coffin's  Beach,  Wheeler's  Point,  Annis- 
quam, — all  within  the  bounds  of  Gloucester  ;  or  to  Andrews'  Point, 
the  northern  horn  of  the  Cape,  near  Pigeon  Cove  ;  or  to  Pebble  Stone 
Beach  and  Long  Beach,  on  the  Massachusetts  Ba}^  side  of  the  town 
of  Rockport. 

Encircled  by  the  great  road  already  described,  is  an  extensive  do- 
main, partly  of  forest,  traversed  in  every  direction  by  uneven  and 
winding  foot-paths ;  and  partly  of  pasture,  with  hills  and  hollows 
destitute  of  trees,  but  strewn  with  boulders  ;  and  with  a  few  swamps, 
thickly  covered  with  stunted  maples  and  pines,  with  black  alders,  and 
with  bushes  and  ferns.  Many  of  the  boulders  all  over  the  hundreds 
of  acres  of  treeless  undulations,  are  immense ;  and  the}*  are  both 
gray  and  black  with  patches  and  flecks  of  moss. 

Near  the  centre  of  this  waste,  are  the  cellars  of  an  ancient  settle- 
ment, now  overgrown  with  grass  and  weeds,  and  overrun  by  grazing 
cattle  and  horses.  And  from  its  many  elevations  may  be  seen  the 
towers  and  steeples  of  the  city  of  Gloucester,  two  or  three  strips  of 
Massachusetts  Ba}^,  some  of  the  roofs  of  Riverdale  and  Wheeler's 
Point,  the  village  of  Annisquam  at  the  confluence  of  Lobster  Cove 
and  'Squam  River,  the  estuary  uniting  'Squam  River  with  Ipswich 
Bay,  Flag-staff  Ridge,  overlooking  the  River  and  the  Bay,  and  sep- 
arating Annisquam  from  the  Baj',  Coffin's  Beach,  directly  across  the 
estuary  from  Annisquam,  and  the  white  sand-hills  near,  and,  farther 
away,  the  knob  called  the  Loaf,  at  the  Chebacco  River  termination 
of  the  curving  beach. 

The  atmosphere  of  these  breezy  elevations  of  the  waste,  is  the 
purest  under  the  skies.  It  is  wholesome  with  the  mingled  breath- 
ings of  sea  and  land. 

With  this  description  of  the  landscape  and  of  the  views  of  the 
Bays  and  the  River,  the  reader  is  in  a  mood  to  believe  that  the  old 
Cape,  at  any  point,  is  grand  and  admirable  as  a  summer  abiding 
place.  If  he  yet  is  in  doubt  about  it,  let  him  spend  one  heated  term 
of  July  and  August  in  an  actual  survey  of  the  region  put  before  his 
mind  in  this  attempt  at  painting  in  words.  So  will  he  learn  that 
there  is  more  here  than  can  be  pictured  03-  the  most  ingenious  pen. 


CHAPTER  10. 

PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. 

Among  the  earliest  laws  of  Massachusetts  was  one  compelling  all 
the  towns  containing  fifty  householders  to  support  a  public  school. 
Gloucester  at  quite  an  early  date  contained  the  requisite  number, 
but  the}"  were  so  far  apart  that  it  was  deemed  well  nigh  impossible 
to  gather  the  children  into  one  school ;  and  the  town's  neglect  fpr 
several  years  to  comply  with  the  law,  was  no  doubt  overlooked. 
Private  or  domestic  instruction  was  not  lacking,  but  it  was  not  until 
1698  that  we  find  a  record  of  the  employment  of  a  public  teacher, 
when,  in  town-meeting,  Thomas  Riggs,  sen.,  was  chosen  to  that  of- 
fice, "  to  have  one  shilling  and  sixpence  a  day  during  the  town's 
pleasure,  and  the  said  Riggs'  likeing  to  carry  it  on."  At  that  time 
there  was  but  one  Meeting  House  in  town,  and  there,  till  1708,  the 
school  was  kept.  At  this  date  a  school-house,  twenty-four  feet  by 
sixteen,  with  a  height  of  stud  of  six  feet,  was  built.  This  building 
was  erected  "to  keep  a  good  school  in  for  the  godly  instruction  of 
children,  and  teaching  them  to  read  and  write  good  English."  Until 
1793  the  privileges  of  the  public  schools  of  Gloucester  seems  to  have 
been  confined  to  the  boys  of  the  town,  the  School  Committee  of  1790 
recommending  "  that  provision  be  made  for  the  education  of  females, 
a  tender  and  interesting  branch  of  the  community  that  have  been 
neglected  in  the  public  schools  of  this  town." 

In  1804,  the  town  increased  its  facilities  for  imparting  instruction 
to  all  its  children,  by  creating  eleven  school  districts,  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  schooling  in  which,  it  expended  the  first  year  $2,000. 
This  system  continued  for  forty-five  years,  the  districts  increasing  in 


84 

number  to  twenty-three.  The  inequality  of  school  advantages,  poor 
qualit3T  of  school-houses  and  conveniences,  and  other  considerations 
led  to  the  abolition  of  the  district  s}'stem  in  1849,  at  which  time 
there  were  1672  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years, 
and  the  annual  expenses  of  the  schools  were  $5,562.25.  In  1850 
the  town  assumed  in  its  corporate  capacity,  the  sole  management  of 
the  schools,  and  has  continued  it  to  the  present.  It  involved  a  large 
outlay  for  new  school-houses,  but  it  secured  uniformity  of  instruc- 
tion in  all  parts  of  the  town,  better  teachers,  and  many  other  advan- 
tages. The  school  expenses,  exclusive  of  cost  of  buildings,  were  in 
1850,  $6,086.19  ;  in  1860,  $13,267.50  ;  in  1870,  $40,510.07  ;  and 
for  the  present  year  are  estimated  at  $54,695.  In  1860  the  whole 
number  of  children  in  attendance  was  2081  ;  in  1870  the  whole  num- 
ber registered  was  3205  ;  and  in  1876  the  estimated  number  is  3500. 
The  schools  of  Gloucester  now  occupy  twenty-four  different  build- 
ings, two  being  rented,  and  the  remainder  the  property  of  the  city*. 
One  High  School  with  six  teachers,  six  Grammar  Schools  with  thir- 
ty-one teachers,  twelve  Primaries  with  thirty-four  teachers,  and  four 
Mixed  Schools, — in  which  both  Grammar  and  Primary  studies  are 
taught, — with  six  teachers,  make  a  total  of  sevent)'-seven  teachers 
constantly  employed  during  the  school  y ear  of  forty  weeks.  A  teach- 
er of  Drawing  and  a  teacher  of  Music  are  also  constantly  employed. 
Two  or  more  additional  schools  are  also  kept  during  the  winter,  for 
the  accommodation  of  a  large  number  of  boys  who  are  engaged  in 
the  fisheries  in  other  portions  of  the  year.  Winter  evening  instruc- 
tion in  Free-Hand  and  Mechanical  Drawing  is  also  given  to  adults. 
The  care  of  the  schools  is  confided  to  a  Committee,  consisting  of  the 
Mayor,  and  nine  persons  elected  by  the  citizens  at  large.  The  su- 
pervision of  the  school  work  is  delegated  to  a  Superintendent,  elect- 
ed by  the  committee.  John  W.  Allard,  A.  M.,  the  present  Superin- 
tendent, was  elected  in  1873. 

CHURCHES. 

The  early  Religious  Societies  in  Gloucester  were  denominated,  as 
was  the  custom  throughout  the  State,  Parishes,  and  were  accurately 
defined  as  to  their  territorial  boundaries.  No  such  distinctions  now 
exist,  but  one  Society  now  retaining  its  original  Parish  name,  and 
therefore  in  speaking  of  the  present  Religious  Societies  in  the  city, 
they  will,  with  this  one  exception,  be  classified  by  sects  in  the  order 
of  their  age.  The  original  parishes  were  all  of  the  Orthodox  Con- 
gregationnl  order. 


85 

Unitarian. — The  First  Parish,  organized  in  1642,  settled  a  Unita- 
rian pastor  in  1834,  and  has  been  a  pronounced  Unitarian  Society 
since  that  time.  It  occupies  the  House  of  Worship  erected  in  1828, 
on  Middle  street,  on  the  site  of  the  venerable  edifice  built  in  1738, 
and  chiefly  memorable  as  having  been  the  target  on  which  the  British 
commander,  Linzee,  brought  the  guns  of  the  sloop-of-war  Falcon  to 
bear,  on  the  8th  of  August,  1775.  The  present  pastor,  Rev.  Minot 
G.  Gage,  was  settled  over  the  Society,  January,  1870. 

Universalist — I.  The  Independent  Christian  Society,  (the  oldest 
Universalist  Society  in  the  United  States,)  grew  out  of  the  labors  of 
the  Rev.  John  Murray,  who  came  to  Gloucester  in  1774,  and  re- 
mained except  during  a  short  period  while  Chaplain  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Brigade,  in  the  struggle  for  National  Independence,  till  1793. 
Its  present  House  of  Worship,  the  second  erected  by  it,  is  situated 
on  Middle  street,  and  was  built  in  1806.  The  present  pastor,  Rev. 
Richard  Eddy,  was  settled  Ma}-,  1870. 

II.  Rev.  Ezra  Leonard,  settled  over  the  Third  Parish  in  1804, — 
the  Parish  having  been  incorporated  in  1728, — became  a  Universal- 
ist in  1811,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  few  members,  his  congrega- 
tion followed  him  in  his  new  views,  and  he  continued  to  be  their 
pastor  till  his  death,  in  1832.  The  Meeting  House  is  located  in  that 
part  of  the  city  best  known  as  Annisquam,  and  was  erected  in  1830, 
the  first  edifice  built  by  the  Society  on  the  same  site,  in  1728,  being 
then  taken  down  on  account  of  its  age.  The  present  pastor  is  Rev. 
Henry  C.  Leonard,  settled  in  1876. 

III.  In  1830  a  majority  of  the  Second  Parish,  incorporated  in 
1716,  became  Universalists,  and  continued  to  occupy  the  Meeting 
House  built  about  the  time  of  the  incorporation  of  the  parish,  till 
1846,  when  the  edifice  was  abandoned  and  demolished.  The  Soci- 
ety have  erected,  in  1876,  a  Chapel  at  West  Gloucester,  near  the 
junction  of  the  Essex  and  Coffin's  Beach  roads.  Their  present  pas- 
tor, settled  in  1875,  is  Rev.  Elmer  F.  Pember. 

IV.  The  Universalist  Society  at  Lanesville,  for  many  years  a 
portion  of  the  Annisquam  Society,  created  a  separate  organization 
in  1876.  Their  present  place  of  worship  is  Village  Hall,  and  their 
pastor,  Rev.  Byron  G.  Russell,  was  settled  in  1875. 

Methodist.— I.  Organized  in  1825,  in  the  limits  of  the  Fourth 
Parish,  the  Society  built  their  first  House  of  Worship  on  the  corner 
of  Taylor  and  Prospect  streets,  in  1828.  In  1858  they  purchased 
their  present   church  edifice  on  Elm  street.     The  present  pastor, 


86 

Rev.  Albert  Gould,  was  appointed  to  the  charge,  by  the  Conference, 
in  1875. 

II.  That  portion  of  the  parent  Society  left  in  the  Fourth  Parish, 
by  the  change  in  place  of  worship  in  1828,  continued  to  share  the 
services  of  the  pastors  sent  by  Conference  to  the  Society  on  Prospect 
street,  until  1838  ;  since  which  time  they  have  been  a  separate 
charge.  Their  House  of  Worship,  erected  in  1838,  is  located  at  Riv- 
erdale.  The  present  pastor,  Rev.  Walter  Wilkie,  was  appointed  b}' 
the  Conference  in  1876. 

III.  In  1871  a  Society  was  organized  at  Bay  View,  and  a  House 
of  Worship  erected  in  1872.  The  present  pastor,  Rev.  William  B. 
Toulwin,  was  appointed  by  the  Conference  in  1876. 

Orthodox  Congregationalists. — I.  A  rupture  occurred  in  the  First 
Parish,  occasioned  by  dissatisfaction  with  the  doctrinal  views  of  the 
pastor,  in  1829,  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Evangelical 
Orthodox  Church,  that  3'ear,  and  of  a  Society  a  }*ear  later.  The 
House  of  Worship  now  occupied  by  the  Society,  the  second  built  by 
them  on  the  same  site,  was  erected  at  the  corner  of  School  and  Mid- 
dle streets,  in  1855.  The  present  pastor,  Rev.  F.  B.  Makepeace, 
was  settled  in  1873. 

II.  The  North  Orthodox  Congregational  Church,  located  at 
Lanesville,  was  organized  in  1831.  Their  House  of  Worship,  erect- 
ed in  1828,  was  enlarged  in  1853.  Rev.  Samuel  B.  Andrews,  their 
present  pastor,  was  settled  in  1875. 

III.  The  Church  connected  with  the  Second  Parish,  and  organ- 
ized in  1716,  withdrew  from  the  Society,  when  a  majority  of  the  lat- 
ter changed  their  theological  views,  in  1830.  A  reorganization  took 
place,  and  a  new  House  of  Worship  was  erected  in  West  Gloucester, 
on  the  Essex  road,  in  1834.  Rev.  Nathaniel  Richardson,  the  pres- 
ent pastor,  was  settled  in  1874. 

Baptist. — I.  The  Second  Baptist  Church,  (the  First  having  been 
instituted  at  Sandy  Bay,  now  the  town  of  Rockport,  in  1808,)  was 
organized  in  1830.  Their  House  of  Worship,  the  third  erected  by 
the  Society,  and  the  second  on  the  present  site,  was  built  in  1871, 
on  the  corner  of  Pleasant  and  Middle  streets.  Rev.  J.  M.  English, 
the  present  pastor,  was  settled  in  1875. 

II.  A  Baptist  Chapel  was  erected  at  East  Gloucester  in  1858, 
and  greatly  enlarged  in  1869.  The  Church  was  organized  in  1863. 
The  location  of  the  House  of  Worship  is  on  Chapel  street,  and  the 
present  pastor,  Rev.  A.  M.  Higgins,  was  settled  in  1875. 

Roman  Catholic. — I.     St.  Anne's  Church.     Mass  was  first  eel- 


87 

ebrated  in  Gloucester,  in  January,  1849.  In  1855  a  Church  edifice 
was  consecrated.  A  new  Church  edifice,  to  be  constructed  of  Cape 
Ann  granite,  is  now  being  built.  It  will  have  a  seating  capacity  of 
about  1200.  Eev.  J.  J.  Healy,  pastor,  was  settled  in  1871  ;  Rev. 
Eugene  F.  McCarthy,  assistant,  in  1876. 

II.  St.  Joachim's  Church.  Mass  was  first  celebrated  in  Lanes- 
ville  about  1850.  A  Church  edifice  is  now  being  erected.  Rev. 
Thomas  Barry  of  Rockport,  pastor  since  1869,  officiates  every  Sun- 
day morning,  at  Village  Hall. 

Episcopalian. — St.  John's  Church  was  organized  in  1864.  The 
Church  edifice,  erected  in  1864,  is  located  on  Middle  street.  Rev. 
James  D.  Reid,  Rector,  was  settled  in  1868. 

Swedenborgian. — The  First  Society  of  the  New  Church  in  Glou- 
cester, was  organized  in  May,  1871.  Services  ever3T  Sunday  morn- 
ing, at  the  residence  of  the  pastor,  Rev.  Robert  P.  Rogers,  Washing- 
ton street,  opposite  Granite  street. 

Second  Adventists. — Three  persons  believing  in  the  tenets  of  this 
sect,  held  their  first  meeting  here  in  1871.  Their  present  number  is 
forty-two,  who  hold  monthly  meetings  for  preaching,  in  Hicks'  Hall, 
Western  Avenue,  and  weekly  prayer  meetings  at  private  residences. 

CHARITABLE    SOCIETIES. 

I.  The  Gloucester  Female  Charitable  Association  was  organized 
in  1834,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  poor.  Its  funds  are  derived 
from  annual  memberships  and  donations.  In  1875  it  aided  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  families. 

II.  The  Gloucester  Fishermen's  and  Seamen's  Widows'  and  Or- 
phans'  Aid  Society,  was  organized  in  1859  as  the  Widows'  and  Or- 
phans' Fund  Society,  and  re-organized  in  1865.  It  is  supported  by 
annual  memberships,  at  $2.00,  life  memberships  at  $10.00,  and  the 
payment  by  those  engaged  in  the  fisheries  of  one-fourth  of  one  per 
cent,  on  the  fishing  voyages  of  the  year.  Last  }-ear  the  amount  dis- 
bursed for  the  relief  of  widows  and  children  of  fishermen,  and  sick 
and  disabled  fishermen  and  seamen,  was  $6,722.92. 

III.  The  Tenement  Association  for  Widows  and  Orphans,  was 
organized  in  1871.  Its  object  is,  "To  furnish  at  moderate  rate, 
homes  for  the  widows  of  our  lost  Fishermen."  It  has  erected,  at  a 
cost  of  $7,500,  a  building  containing  ten  tenements. 

MASONIC. 

I.  Tynan  Lodge,  A.  F.  and  A.  Masons,  was  chartered  by  the  M. 
W.  Joseph  Warren,  G.  M.  of  the  Continent  of  America,  March  2,  A. 


88 

L.  5770.     Its  regular  communications  are  the  first  Tuesday  of  the 
month  at  Masonic  Hall,  Front  street. 

II.  Acacia  Lodge.  Instituted  August  3,  A.  L.  5865.  Regular 
communications  the  first  Friday'  of  the  month  at  Masonic  Hall. 

III.  William  Ferson  Royal  Arch  Chapter.  Constituted  Nov, 
1871.  Regular  communications  first  and  third  Wednesday  evenings 
at  Masonic  Hall. 

ODD    FELLOWS. 

I.  Ocean  Lodge,  No.  91,  was  instituted  Sept.  10, 1845.  Meetings 
Monday  evenings  at  Odd  Fellows'  Hall,  Front  street. 

II.  Cape  Ann  Encampment,  No.  33.  Instituted  Nov.  8,  1866. 
Meet  first  and  third  Thursdays  at  Odd  Fellows'  Hall. 

TEMPERANCE    ORGANIZATIONS. 

There  are  thirteen  Temperance  Societies  in  Gloucester,  viz.  :  four 
Lodges  of  Good  Templars,  one  Temple  of  Honor  and  Temperance, 
one  Catholic  Temperance  Society,  and  seven  Reform  Clubs.  The 
city  also  has  a  fund  of  $10,000,  bequeathed  some  years  ago  by  Mr. 
George  Sanders,  a  wealth)*  citizen  of  Cambridge,  whose  ancestors 
were  from  Gloucester.  By  the  terms  of  the  bequest  the  income  is 
"to  be  a  permanent  salary  to  be  paid  to  some  worthy  man  who  has 
discretion  and  zeal  for  the  cause,  to  be  constantly  emplo3*ed  as  a 
Missionary  in  the  cause  of  Temperance,  in  reforming  old  drunkards 
and  preventing  .young  drunkards,  and  abolishing  as  far  as  possible, 
the  use  of  intoxicating  articles."  Mr.  John  T.  Knight  is  the  present 
Temperance  Missionary. 

MISCELLANEOUS    SOCIETIES. 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  Post  45.  Organized  Feb.,  18G8. 
Meetings  Thursday  night,  at  G.  A.  R.  Hall,  Front  street. 

Knights  of  Pythias.  Cape  Ann  Lodge,  No.  55.  Organized  Nov, 
16,  1871.     Meets  Wednesday  evenings,  at  Lanesville. 

The  Sawyer  Free  Library  and  Gloucester  Lyceum  Library  Associa- 
tion. The  L}*ceum  was  organized  in  1830.  Library  added  in  1854. 
Incorporated  1872.  The  Library,  located  on  Front  street,  is  open 
daity,  and  contains  about  4000  volumes. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  This  Society  was  organized 
in  Februar}*,  1873.  Its  Reading  Room,  No.  58  Front  street,  is  open 
daily  from  8  A.  M.  to  10  P.  M. 

The  Cape  Ann  Scientific  and  Literary  Association  was  organized 
in  1875.  Its  purpose  is  to  cultivate  a  knowledge  of  science  in  gen- 
eral, and  particularly  to  develop  the  Natural  History  of  Cape  Ann. 
It  meets  at  Grand  Army  Hall  on  the  second  and  fourth  Monday 
evening  in  each  month. 

Cape  Ann  Horticidtural  Society.  Organized  February,  1866,  and 
holds  its  annual  meeting:  in  Februarv. 


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